Is Tanning Addictive?

A recent study of 421 college kids suggests that tanning beds might be addictive. It’s true. NY-based researchers, Catherine Mosher and Sharon Danoff-Burg, conducted a study geared to identifying addictions to alcohol and marijuana among college students. In the study, they inserted some questions regarding tanning, to see if there was any correlation with that activity. To their surprise, 40% of the students appeared to have addictions to tanning. They admitted to the same obsessive desire to tan as they did to regular ingestion of alcohol and weed. You can see the details of their research in the Archives of Dermatology Journal.

The recently-approved Health Care Bill includes a 10% tanning tax, as a substitute for the previous proposed tax on plastic surgery enhancements, which was called the “Botax.”  Once the Botax was defeated, the 10% tax on tanning was substituted. This is not a bad idea, considering a recent CNN story that shows tanning bed users have three times the risk for skin cancer as non-users.  

So why the addiction to tanning beds? Is it just about looking good? Apparently not. It’s all about the feel-good chemicals released from the habit. Nina Goad, of the British Association of Dermatologists, was quoted in the UK's Daily Mail newspaper that previous research suggests "feel-good" chemicals are released as a response to sunlight, and that this might clarify why tanning has become addictive for some people.

As a physician, I don’t regard this as a major study—after all, it’s only 421 college students, and there was no “control group,” which is a piece of every good study. Still, it focuses on the point that tanning can be bad for people from several angles. Here in our Delaware plastic surgery office, my staff and I see sun-damaged skin often. We use lasers to treat sun-damaged skin to improve the appearance of sun-damaged skin to eliminate the roughness, red and brown spots.   

Remember, the skin is your body’s largest organ. If you aren’t sure about the level of your skin’s damage from sun worshipping or using tanning beds, come to our office for a skin review. Our professionally trained medical aesthetician will analyze your skin to reveal any problems now, before they become bigger problems later! Laser treatments have been shown to offer tremendous aid to sun-damaged skin.

To your health and beauty,

Dr. Joe Danyo