Over the years I have heard from countless sources that tanning (indoor especially) is incredibly dangerous. I know that it increases your risk of skin cancers and other skin damage, early aging, etc but I am having trouble explaining to my partner the severity of the damage. I am bad with words. Can someone please eli5 the reality of it so I can get him to stop tanning? Thank you!
In: Chemistry
Tanning itself is the body’s way of protecting its skin. Your body produces melanin because it’s being bombarded with UV rays.
When the UV rays hit your skin, it damages the DNA in your skin. It also compromises your immune system. These two things are what cause cancer.
Anecdotally, I have a friend who used to love tanning. She even had her own tanning bed in her garage. We would always tell her to stop that because it was so bad for her.
Eventually she did stop. Maybe 15 years later, she had pain in her sternum. Turned out to be skin cancer that had spread. She had surgery and chemo.
But it was too late. It had spread to her brain. She’s had several brain surgeries over the last few years and has to have scans every 90 days to try to catch it early when it comes back.
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