Are you a tanning bed user? If so, you may be significantly increasing your risk for melanoma – the deadliest form skin cancer, researchers warn.
Using records from nearly 5,900 patients, the researchers divided them into two groups: people with a “quantifiable history” of tanning bed use (2,932) and those with no prior history of tanning bed use (2,925).
They found that the participants in the former group had a three times greater risk for melanoma, which kills around 11,000 people each year in the United States, a Northwestern University press release states.
Frequent tanning bed users and past tanning bed users should undergo a total body skin exam by a dermatologist, said study co-author Pedram Gerami, a professor of skin cancer research at the NU School of Medicine. Doctors should also evaluate frequent users on “whether they need routine skin checks.”
Gerami and his fellow researchers note that tanning bed users are more likely to develop melanoma on “sun-shielded body sites,” such as the lower back and buttocks.
Even on parts of the skin that had no moles, the researchers found that tanning bed use caused DNA mutations that can be precursors to cancer.
“In outdoor sun exposure, maybe 20% of your skin gets the most damage,” Gerami said. “In tanning bed users, we saw those same dangerous mutations across almost the entire skin surface.”
Gerami suggests that tanning beds, like cigarettes, should have warning labels about cancer risk.
The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
