As I watched you slip off your sandals and cover-up before diving into the pool, I found it hard to look away. You appeared to be no older than 17, and I was fearful of being that awkward 35-year-old who stares. Yet, I was captivated.
It wasn’t just your youthful figure or the absence of any visible imperfections; it was something deeper, something alarming that made my skin crawl.
Sweetheart, you’re far too tanned.
In my mind, I quickly assessed your complexion based on your hair and eye color. Sure, you probably tan easily, but it was early June and we had just come out of a brutal winter. There were absolutely no tan lines on your shoulders, back, or legs. Everything pointed to a pre-prom tanning session that likely involved a salon.
I wanted to walk up to you and reveal my own battle scars—the 2-inch mark that serves as my lifelong reminder to apply SPF. This scar is the result of having a melon-sized tumor containing cancerous tissue removed from my forehead. Yes, my forehead. I was shocked to learn there was that much tissue there, but it turned out to be riddled with skin cancer. Despite never stepping foot in a tanning bed, I was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma at 35. If I had followed the tanning trends like many of my peers in college, I shudder to think how much earlier this could have happened or how severe it might have been, possibly even melanoma.
I wanted to tell you the staggering statistics surrounding tanning beds and skin cancer. Did you know that nearly 420,000 cases of skin cancer are attributed to indoor tanning in the United States each year? Tanning leads to more skin cancer cases than the number of lung cancer cases caused by smoking.
Just one indoor tanning session increases your risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma by 67 percent, and with just a few more, the likelihood of developing basal cell carcinoma rises by 73 percent. The incidence rate of melanoma among young adults has skyrocketed by 800 percent over the last 40 years. Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and 76 percent of cases among those aged 18 to 29 can be linked back to tanning bed usage. If you’ve ever used a tanning bed before the age of 35, your risk of developing melanoma jumps by 75 percent. Tragically, nearly 10,000 people will lose their lives to melanoma this year.
I wanted to implore you—on behalf of the future children you might have, for whom you will want to be around forever: Please, stay away from tanning beds.
But instead of approaching you, I just stood there, staring. I then loudly announced to my children that it was time to reapply sunscreen.
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In summary, while I wished I could have shared my story to prevent you from making a potentially harmful choice, I instead focused on protecting my own family by reapplying sunscreen. The importance of sun safety cannot be overstated.