Indoor tanning

When you expose your skin to UV rays – whether from the sun, tanning beds or sun lamps – you increase your chances of getting skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer.

It’s also one of the most preventable. To reduce your risk of getting skin cancer, don’t use tanning beds or sun lamps.

The World Health Organization upgraded the classification of UV-emitting devices, such as tanning beds, from a probable carcinogen to a known carcinogen. In other words, tanning beds are no longer something we think probably causes cancer – we know they cause cancer. And research done by the International Agency for Research on Cancer shows that being exposed to UV radiation from indoor tanning equipment before the age of 35 increases your risk of melanoma (skin cancer).

Also, long-term exposure to UV rays causing sunburns from the sun’s rays, tanning beds or sun lamps, can put you at greater risk for non-melanoma or melanoma skin cancers.

Indoor tanning is especially harmful to young people. The Canadian Cancer Society believes that:

• Federal, provincial and territorial governments should regulate the indoor tanning industry by requiring UV-emitting devices to be registered, staff to be licensed, and equipment and premises to be inspected regularly.
• UV-emitting devices should be labelled in a way that clearly explains the health risks.
• The indoor tanning industry must stop using misleading phrases such as safe, no harmful rays, no adverse effects or similar wording.

Indoor tanning is never safe. These myths can hurt you, so don’t believe them.

“Having a tan is healthy.”
No, it’s not. Tanned skin is damaged skin – it can lead to premature aging and skin cancer. If you have to have that tan, try a sunless tanning cream. Don’t forget that when you’re using a fake tanning product, you still need to use sunscreen when out in the sun.

“My tan protects me from the sun.”
Think again! A tan offers almost no protection from sunlight or burning. Some tanning beds can expose you to 5 times more radiation than the sun. Getting a tan from a tanning bed doesn’t protect you from the sun – it does more harm than the sun. Use sunscreen to protect yourself instead.

“I’ll get my vitamin D by going to the tanning salon.”
Tanning beds are not a safe way to get your vitamin D. It is safer to get it from the sun, supplements and your diet. In the fall and winter, a supplement is a much safer and cheaper way to get your vitamin D.

Health Canada – Consumer and Clinical Radiation Protection

Health Canada – Guidelines for tanning salon owners, operators and users

American Academy of Dermatology Association – Position Statement on Indoor Tanning