In today’s society, a tan is regarded as a thing of beauty. People with pale skin are ashamed of it, and everybody makes an effort to get a perfect golden glow. Statistics from The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System show that 21% of high school girls use tanning beds.

Indoor tanning is an unhealthy habit, and increases the risk of melanoma each use. It is extremely dangerous to participate in indoor tanning.

 There are two types of ultraviolet rays, UVA and UVB. Tanning salons can pose the argument that their tanning beds only produce UVA rays and are therefore less hazardous, but contemporary doctors understand that both UVA and UVB rays cause cancer, and neither is healthier than the other.

  According to Susan Evans, MD, teens are more likely to have complications with tanning beds because their bodies are undergoing such accelerated growth rates that their cells are more prone to the damage. Regardless, two to three million teens tan indoors each year. A portion of these teens are even addicted to it.

 Some people speculate that, as Vitamin D is essential to your health, tanning beds are a sort of healthy supplement. However, the prime amount of Vitamin D for your skin is less than what is required to get a tan. There is no such thing as a healthy tan.

Tanning has become a part of our current lifestyle, and it’s easy to see why people see it as a harmless practice. They simply lie in a warm bed and come out looking like they just got back from the beach. Oftentimes, the long-term effects of tanning do not show until many years after the offense. This means teens with the live-in-the-moment mentality are in the most danger of ruining their skin.

Indoor tanning is a problem that is easily remedied. Students should take caution about the dangers of melanoma that await them in tanning beds, and warn their friends as well. Bronze skin may be considered desirable, but not at the cost of your health.