Tanning beds are harmful because they expose your skin to high-intensity ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV radiation damages the DNA in your skin, which could lead to skin cancer.
The biggest risk from indoor tanning is melanoma, a type of skin cancer that starts in skin pigment cells called melanocytes.
Melanoma is more likely to spread than other skin cancers, which makes it so deadly. When this cancer does spread, the chance of surviving five years is just 35 percent, according to the American Cancer Society.
Tanning bed use increases your risk of melanoma by 47 percent, per the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). It also increases your risk for other skin cancers, including squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma.
And while tanning might give you a healthy-looking glow in the short term, it accelerates the skin aging process. “You get a lot of sun damage in a much quicker way because of the intensity of the UV exposure. So the wrinkles, the saggy skin, the discoloration, the broken blood vessels — all of that is part of the sun damage that occurs,” says Susan Y. Chon, MD, a professor and the chair ad interim of the department of dermatology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
You also put your eyes at risk every time you tan. UV light can damage both your eyelids and eye, increasing your likelihood of cancer of the eyelid and uvea (middle layer of the eye), photokeratitis (sunburned eye), and cataracts.
Despite its many dangers, tanning can be addictive, like alcohol or drugs, causing similar withdrawal symptoms when you try to stop.
“I had a patient tell me, ‘I just feel like I have to have it.’ They are almost in an addictive cycle,” says Dr. Chon. “It’s something that has minimal benefits as far as appearance, but it does so much damage and puts you at so much risk.”