Young Girls Terrified About Developing Wrinkles, Not Skin Cancer

Doctors have finally found a way to scare young girls into avoiding dangerous tanning practices. They have told them the one thing they do not want to hear, tanning causes wrinkles. The fact that indoor tanning increases a person’s  risk of developing skin cancer by 75 percent was not enough to curb the indoor tanning craze. A new paper reports that 25 to 40 percent of girls between 12 and 17 still visit tanning salons.

Dr. June Robinson is a dermatology professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Robinson led the study that has been published in the Archives of Dermatology. Indoor tanning is being blamed for the rise in skin cancer in women between the ages of 15 and 39 by 50 percent. This steep increase in skin cancer cases occurred between 1980 and 2004.

Robinson and her team put together a 25 page booklet detailing the long term effects of indoor tanning. They distributed the booklets to 435 girls between 18 and 22 who were habitual tanners. The booklet covered the same alarming statistics that have been available for years, but they also added the fact that UV rays destroy collagen. Collagen maintains the skin’s elasticity, preventing wrinkles. The booklet prompted  a 35 percent drop in tanning visits.

This information has incited the government to take some drastic actions against the indoor tanning industry. A sin tax has been applied and will start in July of this year. Now government officials are mulling an age restriction on tanning beds.