Tanning Beds Linked to Premature Skin Aging and Higher cancer Risk

Tanning beds, popular for getting a tan year-round, can quickly and severely age skin. People who use them can develop genetic changes that are even more harmful than those found in people twice their age, possibly tripling their risk of melanoma.

This information comes from a study published in teh journal Science Advances. Researchers from the university of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Northwestern University studied how tanning beds affect the skin for the first time.

“We found that people in their 30s and 40s who used tanning beds had more genetic mutations than people in their 70s and 80s,” says Bishal Tandukar of UCSF, who led the study with Pedram Gerami of Northwestern.

“Essentially,” Tandukar explains, “the skin of tanning bed users looked genetically decades older.”

Using tanning beds is already known to increase the risk of skin cancer. This study shows just how damaging they can be at a genetic level.