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The Emergence of the Suntan Bed As a Way of Life

In the United States, an estimated 28 million people are into indoor tanning. Some of them are using the 25,000 tanning salons scattered around the country or the suntan bed in the privacy of their homes. These figures continue to increase each year, creating an industry that is estimated to have an annual worth of $2 billion.

The UV rays produced by a suntan bed are supposed to induce the skin to create more melanin to protect itself from the radiation, leading to a darker, tanner shade. This darker shade is what most people, particularly fair-skinned individuals, are aiming for. The indoor tanning equipment produced in earlier years produced UVC and UVB, said to be the most damaging portions of the ultraviolet spectrum. The models of indoor tanning devices offered in the 1960s were plagued by safety problems and at that time, the market has yet to find a reliable consumer base.

In the 1970s, medical devices that emit UVA were developed and they were then adopted for indoor tanning purposes. This was supposed to be an improvement since the biological effects of UVA were less obvious than those of UVB. But after a few years, it became obvious that UVA causes the same skin problems as UVB. These problems include sunburns, wrinkles or photoaging and even skin cancer. Added to these problems was the discovery that UVA was not as effective as presumed when it comes to inducing a tan. This led to the development of indoor tanning products that contain a mixture of UVA and UVB which simulated the combination of rays coming from the sun. These products are the ones that are still in use today; and one such product is the tanning bed.

The emergence of the tanning bed industry as one of the most profitable businesses in the U.S. created quite a stir among medical societies. Most organizations, the American Medical Association in particular, has called for a ban on tanning beds. The organizations argue that these devices are too risky and can cause severe damage such as skin cancer and irreversible vision loss. But although the case against tanning beds is strong, no definite study has yet been conducted to prove beyond reasonable doubt that these products cause skin cancer.

The popularity of indoor tanning devices, particularly the suntan bed, has caused a lot of worries among medical experts. But so far, these worries are not shared by the general public. For the latter, the desire to acquire a tan is still more important than the yet-to-be proven risk of skin cancer associated with the use of these devices.