ABC 4 Investigation: The deadly truth behind indoor tanning

[Ezliving_Jim]

ABC 4 Investigation: The deadly truth behind indoor tanning

Reported by: Christiana Brady
Last Update: 11/12 11:49 pm
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11/12/07 - ABC 4 Investigation: The deadly truth behind indoor tanning

(ABC 4 News)


SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - When temperatures get cooler, some of us will do anything to keep that summer glow. In fact, statistics show more than one million Americans turn to indoor tanning everyday. While many think indoor tanning is safer than the sun, new research, along with one Utah girl's tragic story, points to just the opposite. Could you be putting yourself at risk for skin cancer and not even know it?

Some experts say using a tanning bed more than just once a month increases your chance of getting skin cancer by 55-percent, a scary statistic considering Utah ranks in the top five states for cases of deadly melanoma. But for chronic tanners, is this alarming enough to make you stop? Meet a cancer survivor whose quest is to make sure you're listening.

In the 1920's, it was pretty and pale. Today, bare and bronze: a look most coveted by those ages 18 to 24 and a culture that's turned the tanning industry into a multi-million dollar business. Dr. Dirk Noyes of Huntsman Cancer Institute says, “I personally think the tanning industry should be shut down…it's an absolute travesty to let especially young people get tanned at these tanning parlors.”

Twenty four year old Maryann Gerber turned to tanning beds to maintain her year round glow, ““It was once, twice a month, maybe…once twice a month in six months, it depended.” That is… until a fateful day when the same vanity that brought her to the tanning bed led her down a life changing path. “I had this tiny little tiny mole...I went in for vanity reasons alone to get this mole taken off and when I did, that's when I found out.”

Maryann was diagnosed with stage three melanoma. Even so, the bad news fell on deaf ears. Maryann’s mother, Mary Catherine Fowler, says her daughter told the doctor she was more worried about the removal process leaving a disfiguring scar. Fowler said, “He looked right into her eyes and said, ‘You know we're trying to save your life here...I'm not really worried about the scar.’” Maryann said when she first looked in the mirror post-surgery, she didn’t even recognize herself, “Hunchback of Notre dame is what I saw, just hideous, hideous person...and I didn't know what to think.”

It wasn't until she read the surgeon's report that Maryann finally grasped the gravity of her diagnosis. She relays, “In the report, we found her jugular vein so we moved it to the side so we wouldn't hit it.”

Dr. Dirk Noyes from Huntsman Cancer Institute says the rays from tanning beds are 10 times stronger than the sun. Sadly, Maryann represents only one of the 15 new melanoma cases he sees each week, many a result of that sought after glow. Dr. Noyes says, “We know tanning or ultraviolet rays exposure is the most common cause why people get melanoma.” Maryann comments, “A tanning bed is 90 percent UVA rays which literally go under your skin and mutate your DNA, so you're mutating your DNA yet you have this fabulous glow and you think I'm safe.”

But the tanning industry disagrees. The Sun Tanning for Education Association argues, "UVA only style lamps are in only a small fraction of the total amount of sun beds and booths in the US." www.tanningtruth.com posts, “The risks associated with UV overexposure are manageable for anyone who has the ability to develop a tan."

Yet Maryann's story depicts a different picture and it's become her mission to share her story, warning others in search of the perfect tan. When Maryann told her tragic story to several young adults who admit to being chronic tanners, her tale didn’t appear to be enough to motivate change.

She told the tanners, “I had a tiny mole on my face and it ended up being melanoma and this is the scar. Almost died, had no idea.”

ABC 4 asked the tanners if after hearing a story like that, would they go tanning this winter?

The answers were overwhelmingly, “Yes.”

One of the 21-year old girls we talked with responded, “Realistically it will probably scare me for about a month, but then I'll keep going...The desire to fit in and look good…overrides everything.” Naïve words from a society that Maryann says won't listen…blinded by the light, “I hope you ask me what's that scar for...I hope you just don't look at me and turn away.”

In some good news for concerned parents, Utah recently passed legislation stating teens under 18 need parental consent to use a tanning bed. Also, doctors at Huntsman say there are some warning signs that may indicate a cancerous mole. Dr. Noyes calls them the “ABC’s of Early Mole Detection.”

A stands for asymmetry. Does the mole have an odd shape?

B stands for borders. Do the borders look irregular?

C stands for color. Look for a 'change' in color.

D stands for diameter. Moles should 'not' be larger than a pencil eraser.

E a newly added letter, stands for evolution. Has the mole changed form?

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[EliteMike]

what crap, how can they even do a study when a person goes in a bed a couple times??

[Glowtanning530]

They cant. Whenever clients come to me with something like this I respond with
"we advocate smart tanning. When out doors my family wears SPF, we can control the amount of UVA UVB we get in our beds, we cannot, however, control the outdoor elements. We think that UVB/UVA are elements that most all living things need to flourish, look at plants. We then give them the website to tanningtruth.com and tell them to educate themselves, if they have any questions about what they have read to always feel free to call us."

[JustTans23]

That article didn't even say anything about how often the girl probably laid out in the sun without any protection. She said she was trying to "keep" her summer glow. Which she probably got from laying out in the Utah sun slatherign herself with baby oil.