School of Medicine study highlights new dangers in tanning

Tanning does more than bronze skin, and the side effects aren’t pretty.

Research done at the IU School of Medicine Department of Dermatology recently highlighted the danger in using tanning beds, especially when self-treating rashes. Regardless, local tanning beds stay crowded.

“Using tanning beds to ‘self-treat’ skin eruptions is just a bad idea,” said Jeffrey Travers, M.D. and professor of dermatology, pharmacology and toxicology.

Travers, the senior author of the study, Archives of Dermatology, was researching the effects of UV lightened skin cells on inflaming proteins when different drugs are combined.

The study followed a patient who had an allergic reaction after using ibuprofen and had heard that tanning bed exposure could be a beneficial self-treatment for the rash. The UV light exposure on the rash quickly became a life-threatening condition called Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis. Attacking the skin, TEN can lead to heart failure, problems with vision and can negatively affect the digestive tract. 

The mortality rate following organ failure is more than 20 percent, Travers said.

Skin cells exposed to UV light lead to high levels of protein that cause cell death and serious inflammation.

“The subject in our study went in with a rash caused by ibuprofen and ended up in the burn unit with severe blistering of the skin because of the combination effect,” Travers said.

Regardless of the negative reports and statistics from the Skin Cancer Foundation stating that indoor tanners are 74 percent more likely to develop deadly melanomas, tanning is part of many students’ daily routine, said Kim Danforth, an employee at Sol Spa Tanning in Bloomington.

“On an average day at the campus store we get three to four hundred students, and that’s when we aren’t busy,” Danforth said. “In a busy week, we are seeing about six hundred a day at one store.”

Danforth said there is a noticeable increase in the number of male and middle-aged customers.

“Recently we have been getting a lot more guys. They come in groups and sometimes try to creep in so no one sees them.”

Danforth also noted that when campus events are coming up, such as sorority and fraternity formals, a lot of sporadic customers come in to get a little extra glow.

The harmful effects of tanning do not take a toll on business at Sol Spa Tan. About 50 regulars visit the spa almost every day and a lot of customers come two to three times a week, Danforth said. State law requires that tanners only use the tanning bed once a day, she said. But beyond one day it is a tanner’s responsibility to take care of themselves.

When asked what college students should consider before tanning, Travers responded that it is best to stay away.

“You don’t see it in college, but chronic tanning can predispose you to skin cancer,” Travers said.

Sophomore Taryn Rosenberg said she recognizes the risks of tanning but understands why others make a habit of tanning.

“Though I would never tan, I think people take the risk because they feel better about themselves when they look tan. It’s an expectation that’s been learned,” Rosenberg said.

Senior Lauren Rochman said she has noticed that tanning has become more socially acceptable among men.

“I am not surprised that so many males are tanning because men are becoming more conscious of their appearance and it is acceptable for them to care about how they look. That used to not be OK for guys to do.”

Junior Becky Jacobson said students focus on the immediate reward and ignore future consequences.

“It’s all about looking your best,” Jacobson said. “The tan skin appears immediately, but side effects sometimes take years to appear. This delay makes the dangers of tanning almost unreal to students.”