Paying for Skin Cancer

I’m sure you’ve all seen them.  The pictures on Facebook of them lying in the sun in their bikinis (an issue for another day) as they attempt to achieve that desired summer glow.  Or you see them out your car window as they make their way into a tanning salon because fake tans aren’t obvious or anything. 

Wherever you’ve seen them, you’ve seen them, or maybe you’re even one of them.  The tanners.  The sun soakers.   The orange people.  The people who desire to lie outside in the sun on a towel or pay to lay in a coffin in order to darken their skin and increase their risk of skin cancer all in one sitting. 

I don’t think this whole sun tanning business will ever make sense to me and I’m not even sure what started the whole tanning craze, but I have a few ideas:

1. a psychological disorder that causes people to behave like lizards and desire to constantly bask in a sun-like light
2. a sugar addicts attempt to be hired by Willy Wonka and gain access to unlimited candy in a glorious chocolate factory
3. an underground movement started by carrot-lovers everywhere to show that you are what you eat
4. it stems from a strong desire to be the only dancing traffic cone at prom

In all seriousness, those were the best explanations I could come up with without addressing the only actual explanation:  conformity.   A.K.A. the need to fit in and be just like everyone else for the sake of being accepted or aligning with “socially acceptable” views or appearances.

Of course, that couldn’t be possible either.  Clearly everyone is their own individual self at all times and never becomes influenced by anything surrounding them.  Clearly no one ever makes decisions based on what their friends do or based on what they see in the media.  Clearly everyone thinks for themselves.  Clearly it is just some strange coincidence that individuals all individually decided that having tan (orange) skin is something to strive for and that pale skin is something to be ashamed of.

Last time I checked, there does not seem to be  and should not be anything wrong with having pale skin, or having only slightly naturally tan skin, or having uneven tan-lines as a result of enjoying the outdoors.  But for those of you who want to look like all the celebrities in the magazines, the male clothing models, or all the girls at their proms in the movies, tanning is a must. 

For the sake of arguing over semantics regarding natural sunbathing, I’ll only focus on the people who choose to unnaturally increase their risk of skin cancer.

Each day, about 1 million Americans make their way into a tanning salon so they can bask their way into social acceptance.  That means that each day about 1 million Americans pay various amount of money for exposure to a known carcinogen and for a chance to increase their risk of skin cancer. 71% of these Americans are (shocker!!) females! 

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a proven human carcinogen.  When you pay for a tanning salon appointment, you’re paying for exposure to a known cancer-causing agent.  But perhaps you don’t agree.  Perhaps you’ve developed some sort of relationship with your tanning salon and you don’t think they would ever let you do something that is so harmful to your body.  Think again. The indoor tanning industry has annual estimated revenue of $5 billion.  I’ll go out on a limb here and say they don’t care what happens to you, they just want your money.

Maybe you’re against tanning salons, but you’ll do it if someone asks you to for a wedding.  That one time for that one special occasion is one time too many.  People who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75 percent.  For those that are older, just one indoor tanning session increases a user's chances of developing melanoma by 20 percent.  Now that’s just a one-time use scenario.  These percentages only increase the more times you go.  So sure, maybe your swimsuit lines will show a little bit during the wedding, but at least your risk of cancer is down.

Tanning may seem like a way to be like everyone else, a way to feel accepted, a way to fit in with the rest of the world, but you need to ask yourself this:  how badly do you actually want to “fit in”?  Do you want to “fit in” to the group of over 2 million people who are diagnosed with skin cancer annually?  Or how about “fitting in” with the one person who dies every 57 minutes from some form of melanoma?  Or you can “fit in” with your fellow young people (15-29 years old) and be diagnosed with the most common form of cancer for that age group! 

So next time you find yourself feeling the urge to use a tanning salon, ask yourself this:  to what extent are you willing to go just to “fit in”?