It’s prom season again, which means thousands of teens – girls and boys – flock to their local indoor tanning salons in search of a healthy glow for the big night out. But before they do, the Skin Cancer Foundation has some information for you about tanning for the prom.
Teens tend to be concerned about young-looking skin, and the SCF points out that 90% of changes to the skin that most people associate with aging are caused by exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Tanning leads to wrinkles, spots and an aged look early in life; they can start to appear even before the indoor tanner turns 30.
This doesn’t even touch on the dangers of developing skin cancer, including melanoma. Here are just a few, from SunAWARE:
- Exposure to tanning beds before the age of 35 increases the risk of melanoma by 75%.
- More than one million people visit tanning salons every day. Of these, approximately 71% are girls and young women aged 16-29.
- Young women, under the age of 39, have a higher probability of developing melanoma than any other cancer except breast cancer.
- Ninety percent of pediatric melanoma cases occur in girls aged 10-19.
What Can You Do Instead?
Through its Go With Your Own GlowTM campaign, the Skin Cancer Foundation promotes skipping the tan altogether – the best look for the prom, or any other time, is your own natural skin color. In case the allure of tan skin is still too great from prom-goers, the foundation also suggests sunless, or UV-free, tanners.
And, if you or someone you know is planning on bronzing up for prom courtesy of an indoor tanning booth, Coolibar has a book for you. Pretty Prom – Your Skin is Pretty Too by Mary Mills Barrow and Maryellen Maguire-Eisen provides a short, convincing account of what’s at stake in exchange for looking tan on prom night.
Coolibar offers Pretty Prom courtesy of SunAWARE. Stay safe, and Stay SunAware!
