Take a look for yourself and you can see that reliable facts on the safety of tanning beds are just hard to come by. Click on your TV or go online, and one person is saying that they're just too dangerous and should be avoided altogether. Then the next person you read about or watch will tell you that the risk factor is completely overblown. That indoor tanning is safe to do.
So then what about this risk of getting skin cancer? And also can the light waves penetrate below your skin to damage deep muscle tissues and even your body organs? The answer to the first question is "yes". Just like natural sun tanning, there is an increased risk of cancer from "prolonged exposure". Keep in mind though that the steady sun exposure that your arms receive while you're driving is probably greater over a lifetime.
Then as far as the lights from a tanning bed penetrating your skin and damaging your organs is concerned, it's simply untrue. The light waves simply can't go deep enough and besides, people have been running around in shorts with no shirt on for thousands of years. It's just a scare tactic. Now your eyes do qualify as an organ but as long as you cover them up there's no risk.
Then you may have heard some talk of a risk of contacting STDs off of tanning parlor beds. Can this be possible? The fact is that this is the same type of urban myth that has circulated for years about public toilet seats. Through it all though, "not one documented case" has been reported. So "no", this is not something that you have to concern yourself with.
Still one more thing to consider so you'd be reassured is that the microbes that cause STDs can't live outside the human body. The light and air will kill them pretty much on contact because they require a moist warm environment to live in. Even so, if you feel like it, go ahead and ask the staff at any salon that you visit about their policies on disinfecting their beds after use. Or, bring along your own disinfectant wipes.
So in the end, the bottom line is that indoor tanning, just like so many other things in your life, is really as risky as you make it. For sure your skin tone does factor in, with light skin being at a higher risk. Other than that though, you have control over so many of the risk factors that you may have heard about. Now "over tanning", whether it be indoors or outdoors definitely kicks up the risk level, and is something that really should be avoided.
So then what about this risk of getting skin cancer? And also can the light waves penetrate below your skin to damage deep muscle tissues and even your body organs? The answer to the first question is "yes". Just like natural sun tanning, there is an increased risk of cancer from "prolonged exposure". Keep in mind though that the steady sun exposure that your arms receive while you're driving is probably greater over a lifetime.
Then as far as the lights from a tanning bed penetrating your skin and damaging your organs is concerned, it's simply untrue. The light waves simply can't go deep enough and besides, people have been running around in shorts with no shirt on for thousands of years. It's just a scare tactic. Now your eyes do qualify as an organ but as long as you cover them up there's no risk.
Then you may have heard some talk of a risk of contacting STDs off of tanning parlor beds. Can this be possible? The fact is that this is the same type of urban myth that has circulated for years about public toilet seats. Through it all though, "not one documented case" has been reported. So "no", this is not something that you have to concern yourself with.
Still one more thing to consider so you'd be reassured is that the microbes that cause STDs can't live outside the human body. The light and air will kill them pretty much on contact because they require a moist warm environment to live in. Even so, if you feel like it, go ahead and ask the staff at any salon that you visit about their policies on disinfecting their beds after use. Or, bring along your own disinfectant wipes.
So in the end, the bottom line is that indoor tanning, just like so many other things in your life, is really as risky as you make it. For sure your skin tone does factor in, with light skin being at a higher risk. Other than that though, you have control over so many of the risk factors that you may have heard about. Now "over tanning", whether it be indoors or outdoors definitely kicks up the risk level, and is something that really should be avoided.