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Vendaval -> Tanning beds and skin cancer (5/12/2010 8:18:29 PM)
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If you or someone you know uses tanning beds you might want to read this story. A young woman dead at age 26 from melanoma likely caused by tanning both outdoors and in tanning beds.
A Death by Suntan at Age 26
For years, Glenna Kohl pursued a tan, both in the sun and in tanning beds — which new research shows are far deadlier than once thought. By 22, she was battling the most lethal form of skin cancer.
BY STEPHANIE BOOTH
"Yet tanning is connected to skin cancer. Studies have shown that exposure to UV rays can trigger changes to the DNA in skin cells that may lead to cancerous growths. The two most common types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, are almost always linked to UV exposure. And 90 percent of cases of the less common but more deadly form, melanoma, also are attributed to UV exposure, says Darrell S. Rigel, MD, a professor of clinical dermatology at New York University.
Sun exposure sans sunscreen is a big culprit. But indoor-tanning beds also can result in cancer. A major report released this past August reclassified tanning beds as "carcinogenic to humans." And a person's melanoma risk rises 75 percent if he or she started using a tanning bed before age 30.
Glenna's diagnosis was, sadly, part of a trend: Melanoma is the second most frequently reported cancer in women in their 20s, and it's third only to breast and thyroid cancers for women in their 30s, reports the National Cancer Institute. "Melanoma is one of the few forms of cancer that's on the rise," says Dr. Rigel. The tan look so desired by young women may explain why 20- and 30-somethings are diagnosed with the disease at alarming rates, he adds."
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/tips/skin-cancer-death-1009
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