Tanning bed or sun bed is one of many inventions coming from serendipitous acts. The Germany-based engineering company Heraeus, who originally intended to develop lighting for home and industrial usage, accidentally invented it. The lamps they created were of high-pressure metal halide variety, as one of the core areas of their business is specialized light source, just to discover that it also emits ultraviolet light; similar to that emitted by the sun causing one’s complexion to darken. Friedrich Wolff brought tanning beds in America in 1979.
A tanning bed is an apparatus devised to provide its user a cosmetic tan by emitting ultraviolet rays. It is equipped with fluorescent lamps with phosphor blends responsible for radiating UVA and a little UVB rays. The number of lamps varies upon usage, home tanning beds have lesser lamps, usually 12-28, compared to those in tanning salons.
It became very famous because people look up to tanning as a extravagant, fashionable and luxurious leisure activity.
Some people prefer using residential tanning beds because they can enjoy a taste of privacy. Tanning beds are also more convenient to use, instead of letting sun rays linger on one’s skin. And because we are in a fast paced environment, people wanted to see results immediately, and sun beds offers just that: faster and more effective effects to have an olive-toned skin.
Vanity makes people overlook at the perilous aftermath of over exposure to UV rays. Tanning may be fashionable, but the World Health Organization condemned the use of tanning beds for it may increase the risk of skin cancer. There are three types of UV rays: UVA rays, the one claimed by WHO to possibly increase the cases of melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer; UVB rays; and UVC rays: for which all are considered probable human carcinogen, or substances which can trigger the formation of cancer. Lamps in tanning beds emit a drastic amount of UVA and little that of UVB.
From the studies conducted by the University of Minnesota, cancer epidemiologist DeAnn Lazovich concluded that the risk of developing malignant melanoma increase by 74% for those people who tan indoors with tanning beds.
Sun beds are considered as an important health issue by WHO, because it has been a big industry especially in the United States. Several young people engage in using tanning beds, which has a high possibility for their health to be put to jeopardy. There are no concrete government regulations regarding the operation of tanning beds, or if there is any, it is not properly enforced. People are also buying their own beds, which are mostly unsupervised.
Aside from skin cancer, sun beds also cause early ageing of the skin, photokeratitis, inflammation of the cornea and the iris, photoconjunctivitis and squamous cell cancer of the conjunctiva.
Die-hard tanners should consider preventive measures in using tanning beds. Alongside sanitizing the bed, they can rub sunblock all over their body. It may slow down the browning of their skin, but sure to say, it is safer. They should regulate their time of stay on the bed so that the amount of UVA entering the skin is not so dramatic. The best prevention may be, refraining from tanning with beds or using sunless tanners instead.
Not all fashionable things are safe or healthy. Sometimes we just have to be contented with what we have, or just keep in mind that moderation is the key to everything.