Are you a beach bum? Do you love to have that tan, bronzed look? Maybe you’re one of those people who sit alongside the pool for hours on end, slathering on tanning oil, perfecting a deep, dark tan. Sun-kissed skin looks great, but for how long? The long-term effects of baking in the sun can be downright frightening. The bottom line: It’s bad for your skin. It can cause burns, blisters, scars, wrinkles, and most terrifying of all, cancer. Tanning can be lethal. Before you go out to catch some rays, find out how the sun really affects your skin. Melanoma. Tanning can cause malignant melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer. Malignant melanomas typically present years after the tan has faded. While occasionally treatable if caught early, malignant melanoma can be deadly. In the United States alone, this type of cancer is responsible for over 80 percent of deaths linked to skin cancer. Basal cell carcinoma. This is the most common form of skin cancer and is caused almost exclusively from exposure to the sun. This cancer presents as a shiny pink or red lump on the skin, scalp, nose, or ears. It can be easily mistaken for something less dangerous and, if left untreated, can grow into malignant melanoma. Again, you probably won’t develop this while you’re tanning but years later, when the sun’s damage is irreversible and your tan is long gone. Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common type of skin cancer. It appears as pink lumps on the skin that start scaly and become sore. Soon these lumps will ulcerate, ooze, and bleed. Squamous cell carcinoma occurs most often on the face, neck, lips, ears, hands, shoulders, arms, and legs — the areas most often exposed to the sun. These lesions are painful, and they can worsen if not treated immediately. UV radiation. Tanning is the result of exposure to UV radiation, whether it comes from the sun itself or a tanning bed. The dangerous affects of tanning are the same no matter the source. Some people believe that tanning beds are “safer” than natural suntans. They are wrong. Tanning beds are as bad for your skin as the sun. Wrinkles and premature aging. It’s a fact that tanning causes wrinkles and prematurely aged skin. You might look beautiful with a tan now, but as you age your skin will become considerably more wrinkled, dry, and leathery than it would have if left untanned. You may look 10 to 15 years older than you actually are simply because of your sun-damaged skin. Leathery skin. Tanning causes skin to be less elastic, prone to dark spots, and rough. No amount of moisturizer or other treatment can truly restore your skin’s health. source
It's especially more deadly for lighter-skinned people as they have less melanin to protect them for harmful UV radiation.
Lighter-skinned people are at more risk, as they have less melanin to protect them from harmful UV radiation.
