Indoor tanning grows, despite risks

KEVIN GUTTING Erin Manning, a UMass graduate student, is one of many area college students frequenting tanning salons. Local salons are busier than usual at this time of year as many students seek to add color to their skin before heading off to spring break vacations in warm climates. Above Manning uses a tanning bed at Oasis Body Wraps & Tanning in Hadley.

Has Miller done what many of us wish we could do right now and run off to a tropical vacation resort? Unless you consider traveling to Route 9 in Hadley an equatorial adventure, the answer is no.

Like many local college students who are either preparing for their annual pilgrimage to a warm climate for spring break or simply trying to maintain a constant glow, Miller has just finished a session at a tanning salon.

"I like to go year-round so I can look tan all the time," said Miller. "I have pretty fair skin, so I have to go about once a week just to keep some kind of color."

Miller is not alone in her quest for tanned skin.

According to Joseph Levy, a spokesperson for the educational branch of the Indoor Tanning Association (a trade group based in Jackson, Mich.), about 1 million Americans visit tanning salons every day, more than 28 million visit a salon at least once a year, and indoor tanning has become a $5 billion a year industry. There are 45,000 businesses that offer tanning services in the United States. In Hampshire County alone, there are 12.

A booming business

Stacia Roy, who operates one of them, Oasis Body Wraps and Tanning in Hadley, has experienced this growth firsthand.

"Business has more than doubled, and probably almost tripled in the past few years," Roy said.

According to Roy, an average of 25 to 30 customers pass through her salon each day. "About 85 percent of our customers are college students, so our business really revolves around them," she said. As a result, as spring break approaches, business grows to about 100 appointments a day. "Beginning around February, there is about a 50 percent increase in business until the kids leave to go home around May," she said.

Jessica Lopata, the manager of Carla's Creations in Amherst, sees the same pattern. "It definitely gets very busy around that time," Lopata said. "Business just about doubles from what it usually is."

Growth despite risks

All of this tanning is going on despite studies that show that the ultraviolet rays that color the skin can also do serious damage to it.

"There are three basic hazards to overexposure to ultraviolet rays," said Dr. Ronald Nadel, a dermatologist who practices in Springfield and Holyoke. "The first one is that major long-term exposure increases a person's chances of skin cancer." The other two are premature wrinkling and thinning of the skin and the spotty discoloration of it.

According to the American Cancer Society, receiving ultraviolet radiation, whether from the sun or from indoor tanning lamps, is one of the major risk factors for melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. The ACS also reports that the number of cases of melanoma has been on the rise since the 1970s.

The cancer society calculated that from the mid-1970s to the late 1990s, the rate of cases increased 60.5 percent for women ages 15-29, that is about 6.9 for every 100,000 individuals.

Over that same time period, the rate for men went up 26.7 percent to 3.8 every 100,000.

The dangers of sun exposure were driven home again two weeks ago when Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe revealed he had extensive skin cancer surgery recently on his nose.

Lowe, who for many years spent countless hours in the sun playing baseball without using sunscreen, told the Boston Globe he was shocked when he found out about his illness.

"I never thought in a million years I could get skin cancer, especially when I'm only 29 years old," he said.

"The sunlight you get when you're young carries over for 30 or 40 years and can still have an impact on your health then," said Nadel. "The younger you are, the less developed your immune system is and the more susceptible you are to most things, including sunlight."

Nadel added that the danger lies in the total amount of ultraviolet light absorbed over time.

"A person who goes into a tanning booth for five minutes a week for 10 years will get just about the same amount of total light as somebody who goes in three times a week for 30 minutes for six months, so they will have about the same risk," he said.

Focus on the moment

None of this seems to concern the college students who are intent on looking good during the winter months.

Alison Lippert, a 20-year-old student at UMass, said she generally goes to Oasis in Hadley to tan about twice a week year-round, excluding the summer months.

"I just don't like to ever be pale," Lippert said. "And I'm naturally kind of fair-skinned, so the only way for me to be tan consistently is to tan indoors."

"I'm not really worried about what this will do to me in the future," Lippert said. "I'm going to do it now because it makes you look good and feel good."

Courtney Miller said she, too, is unconcerned about future problems, though her actions seem to tell a different story.

"I spend a lot of money on wrinkle cream and use that a lot," Miller said. "I don't want to be white, but I also don't want to have wrinkles."

A 1997 study done by Martin A. Weinstock, a dermatology professor at Brown University Medical School and head of the American Cancer Society Skin Cancer Advisory Committee, surveyed 1,200 randomly selected youngsters between 11 and 18. It found that 40 percent of 17- and 18-year-old girls had used tanning beds at least once

In comparison, Weinstock found that about 11 percent of boys the same age had used a tanning bed.

"That makes sense to me, because only about 15 percent of my customers are male," Stacia Roy said. "Although more are starting to come in."

Taking precautions

While there may be a long-term impact on these young tanners, Nadel acknowledges that indoor tanning won't cause any immediate problems if precautions are taken.

"There don't appear to be any short-term issues as long as you go to a reputable place," said Nadel.

Such places take steps to ensure their customers' safety when using the tanning booths in their salons, say Roy and Lopata.

"We have articles and information for people about the hazards of tanning, and we have signs in each one of the rooms also," said Lopata.

Roy said there is an extensive process at her salon to prepare a customer for tanning.

"First, we have everybody fill out a questionnaire that asks if they have any allergies, any adverse reaction to the sun, and also what type of skin they have," she said. "They have to sign it, and if they are under 18, they need to have the signature of a parent or a guardian."

Roy is emphatic about people under 18 having written permission, as is Lopata.

"If a person is under 17, they have to have their parents actually come in and sign the release form in front of us," Lopata said.

Next Roy determines the customer's motivation for tanning and also the time frame he or she has in mind.

"Most people just want to get adjusted to being out in the sun before they go on vacation," Roy said.

After that, Roy does a personal evaluation of the person's skin and then sets up a schedule.

"The key to any of the programs we set up is to have gradual progress," Roy added.

Peggy Van Dyke, who owns Regency Hair Stylists in Amherst emphasizes that point. Van Dyke, whose business uses two stand-up tanning booths, said that there is a definite limit on how long a person should stay in a tanning booth when starting out.

"On the first visit, they can go for two minutes, on the second, they can go for four, the third they can go for six, and on the fourth visit they can go eight," Van Dyke explained. "It can be a battle with some people about this, because they want to get the most they can for their money, but it can be dangerous if done too quickly, so we have to force it upon people."

In addition to the safety procedure she uses at her salon, Roy said she also warns her customers of the possible hazards that tanning can have.

She said that she does this in an initial meeting, and she also has several signs posted around the store and in the booths which say, "Overexposure can cause eye and skin injury" and, "Repeated exposure may cause premature aging of skin and skin cancer."

"I can't say that it's safer to tan indoors," she said, "but I will say that I think it's a more responsible attitude toward tanning. In both cases, you're getting ultraviolet rays, but in the case of indoor tanning, at least you have extreme control over the amount that you get."

To some people, it may seem puzzling that indoor tanning continues to gain popularity despite the possibility of harmful long-term effects. However, the answer for college students may be as simple as the slogan Roy put up outside her store on one of the many ice-cold winter days our region has experienced.

"Why be Snow White when you can be totally tan?"

For links to related Web sites go to www.gazettenet.com.

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