Young American Women Getting Tanned to Death

[hyphenate]

By MedHeadlines • Jul 12th, 2008 •

The most lethal form of skin cancer is on the rise in American women aged 15 to 39, according to data provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, operated by the National Cancer Institute. The number of cases of melanoma, the form of skin cancer in question, has risen in young women by as much as 50% between 1980 and 2004. Authorities suggest the increasing popularity of tanning salons may be one reason for the dramatic increase in this cancer.

Melanoma is a cancer of the pigment-producing cells of the skin and the American Cancer Society estimates 62,480 new cases will be diagnosed this year, accompanied by 8,420 deaths associated with it. Exposure to the UV rays from the sun and tanning salons is the most risky factor associated with the disease but other factors contribute. People with the fairest skin tones are most at risk but people of all races and with all skin tones are susceptible to the disease.

Analysis of the SEER data revealed an increase in melanoma cases from 9.4 to 13.9 per 100,000 between 1980 and 2004 in young women between the ages of 15 and 39. Melanoma rates among young men of the same age range remained stable, at 7.7 cases per 100,000. Tanning salons are more popular among young women than young men and young women are also more likely to spend time tanning in direct sunlight, too.

Some researchers feel the rising rate of melanoma may be, in part, due to the improved methods of detection in recent years but many of the cancers included in the study were later-stage cancers. When caught early, cancerous lesions are thin but they thicken as the disease progresses. The earlier melanoma is detected, the better the chances for a cure.

To provide the best protection against developing melanoma, it is best to avoid sun exposure when it is most intense, between the hours of 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM. Protective clothing and rigorous use of a sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher is also recommended. Perhaps more important is to refrain from active tanning whether it takes place directly in the sun or in a tanning salon.

http://medheadlines.com/2008/07/12/young-american-women-getting-tanned-to-death/

__________________________________________________________________

This is one of those things which infuriates me. Young people who are ignoring the dangers of sun tanning and burning without wearing sun block are only opening themselves up to horrible skin damage and worse. As someone who often got 2nd degree burns from the sun as a child (red hair, fair-skinned), I wish someone would find a way to tell everyone that staying in the sun too long without adequate protection is only going to make their own situation that much worse. Fact is, for some, the damage will come to light later with premature wrinkles and skin that looks leathery.

I know most of us have to bite our tongues because lecturing those who do sunbathe without sunscreen won't listen and they need to learn their own lessons. If it were my own child, however, I would try to drill it into their brains every day for most of their childhood about the dangers out there for this kind of situation, and so many others that didn't mean diddly to those of us who grew up a generation ago.

[BlooInBloo]

1. Obviously being HAWT is way more important.

[Lars39]

2. If tanning salons were pills, they would have been yanked off the market

long ago.

[Mojorabbit]

3. I wonder if this is something new

as far as the numbers. For most of human history people worked out in the sun. I wonder if this has always been a problem or is something that has evolved as a problem.

[wtmusic]

4. There is a strong link between skin melanomas in later years

and sunburn from childhood.

Before the twentieth century, people died of other reasons before they could get cancer.

[grilled onions]

9. Possibly "exposure" is part of the puzzle

Years ago when people did work in the fields they wore clothes from head to foot. They wore hats. No thongs. No bikinis. No Speedos. Any time they had out of the fields they spent under a shade tree. They did not "cook" on the beach for recreation. Think about all the pores that are exposed to the sun on the average young adult today. Halter tops. Males often were cutoffs with no short. Sandals,short shorts and hours of baking in the sun. Compare that to women wearing long skirts,sun bonnets,long sleeves for both sexes,hats and scarves for the males etc. One can see how exposed skin is today.

[hyphenate]

11. Actually

Nature did, in fact, offer the best protection under the sun (so to speak!).

Countries closer to the equator, and the natives of those countries, had more melanin in their skin cells. This made their skin that much darker. Countries further to the poles, and thus who received less overall sun, and definitely not a strong sun, had less melanin in their skin, and their skin was lighter. As long as people didn't travel too far out of their own zones, the problem was less developed.

However, with ships giving circumnavigation of the globe and the ability for many to travel outside their own climate/sun zones, the problem began to change, and more likely skin cancer was seen more frequently. There was less of a problem with dark skinned folk going north or into areas of less sun, but those in northern and southern areas closer to the poles had to be more careful in more sun drenched areas.

But this has mainly been only in the last 500-600 years, and evolution has yet to show a way around it. I would venture to guess that another 500 or so years will find a solution, but right now, our man-made solution of sunblock is a faster avenue right now.

Oh--and we must not forget that the ozone layer is being depleted so much from our pollution that the problem has gotten much worse in the past 100 years. Something that critics who don't believe in global warming seem to forget when they are making contemptuous claims about all that stuff.

[Mojorabbit]

23. This makes the

most sense to me. I wonder if the numbers have increased in the past fifty years or so as travel has increased and people have moved.

[DBoon]

12. through most of human history, the average lifespan was 35

You generally died of other things before you had a chance to get melanoma

[aspergris]

16. for most of human history

men and women died in their 20's and 30's with 40's considered old.

So, cancer wasn't so important a worry.

[billyoc]

5. More vanity than brains. Ignore them, they'll go away.

They're an evolutionary dead end.

[Canuckistanian]

8. I was going to say that

Natural selection, no more, no less.

People have been warned. And if they ignore the obvious dangers to propagation, then nature will take it's course.

[csziggy]

15. Not natural selection if it does not kill before they can procreate

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. Disagree. Natural selection culls the herd BEFORE they can procreate.

Isn't that the purpose?

[skooooo]

6. Why anyone would do this to themselves, I have no idea.

I'd rather be whiter than white then to fry my skin.

[w8liftinglady]

7. as a texan-why does this surprise me

I see so many women tannned to the max.What a shame

[lonestarnot]

10. One way to cut the population growth I guess.

[spag68]

13. Sun exposure

I can't back this up with links, but I believe that the problem has become worse in the last 20 or 30 years , as the atmosphere is changed and more ultra-violet gets through.

[pansypoo53219]

14. sunscreen isn't the answer.

not getting darkly tanned is. a burn is telling you to get out of the sun.

[cbc5g]

18. People going most of the year without sun and then going to the beach and getting burned

are probably what is accounting for the rise. That and tanning booths. Check this analogy. It's like putting your hand in hot water. If you go in it too fast it will burn and hurt, but if you gradually warm up to it you can go in without the pain. If you gradually build up your skin's tolerance to the suns rays instead of baking your pale skin in a few days of the summer months, you'll be fine. I know plenty of people whose livelihoods place them out in the sun all day. They are dark as can be but none has any history of skin cancer. The ones I hear about are people who get burned a few times when they are in the sun and stay away from the sun in other times. Basically getting burned in the summer months and pale in the other months. That's not healthy.

[Leeny]

19. Yes, being HOT is priority #1

People with enough free time and money on their hands apparently don't spend that time reading, or thinking.

[cbc5g]

20. We shouldn't fear the sun, it's healthy...just bathe in it moderately

Burns especially in young age cause the cancers. Gradually building up your skins tolerance to it will not. Moderation is the key, it always is.


http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSL0720393220080107

If the exposure to sun light is moderate, the benefits outnumber the dangers. First of all sunshine has a good effect upon the mental health and well-being, both due to the visible light and to the warming effect.

The UVA rays in the sunlight stimulates the skin to produce vitamine D. This vitamine is necessary for the normal composition, growth and regeneration of bone tissue. By to low levels of vitamin D in the body, the bones tend to loose calcium and get thinner and weaker. Newer findings suggest that many people do not get enough of this vitamine through the diet or do not absorb enough from the intestines, and need this stimulation to get good enough levels of vitamine D.

Newer findings also suggest that moderate amount of sunshine does not promote the occurence of skin cancer. On the contrary, in moderate amounts, exposure to sunshine seems to help prevent cancers of several types.

The benefit that most people go for when engaging in sunbath, is the browning effect. This effect comes from the UVA rays stimulating the melanocytes in the skin to produce more of the brown pigament - melanine. The increased amount of melanine will protect the skin against the harms of sun-rays, and make you tolerate greater amounts of sun before harmful effects occur.

The sun rays also stimulate the upper layer of the skin to grow thicker, and this makes the skin more robust against damage. As long as this thickening is moderate, the thickening is a good effect.



http://www.abicana.com/sun_exposure.htm

[Irreverend IX]

21. Thy will be done.

[undergroundpanther]

22. I like my pale ass

Not all young people go for tans. Take Goths for instance, they do NOT want a tan.They like being pale.
Go goth you won't get skin cancer at least.

[no_hypocrisy]

24. My biopsy just came back (two-toned freckle/mole) as malignant melanoma.

My dermatologist caught it very very early. It's hoped that all I need is a consultation with a surgeon to make sure all the cells will be removed. I didn't sit under the sun or a tanning bed. I am very fair-skinned and I sustained three "big" sunburns before I was six, and that was nearly fifty years ago. That's all it took for me. I will need to monitored regularly for recurrence.

[OneGrassRoot]

25. I have a 15 y/o daughter and ...

thankfully, she has no desire to sunbathe or do tanning beds - I wouldn't allow the latter...wouldn't have much control over the former.

But, I am forever amazed when I pick her up from school to see all the unnaturally tanned girls - even orange girls!

They're going to look like leather-faced sailors by the time they're 30 if they keep this up.

I was one of those sun worshippers but quit around 22. I did have a melanoma lesion removed in my late 20s, however.

AND I'm amazed how many kids are lighting up cigarettes as they walk into the parking lot!

They haven't listened to a damn thing. Now that I have one, I find I am no fan of teenagers. :eyes:

[shadowknows69]

26. This is no surprise

Wow, human beings can be astoundingly stupid creatures when we put our minds to it can't we?