Facts and Advice

The Benefits Of Modern Day Tanning
By Lonn Dugan.

Modern suntanning service retailers offer many more benefits than just being safer due to a more controlled exposure to suntanning rays. Indoor suntanning is cooler than sitting in the "blistering" sun, as well as far safer in areas of concern for dermatologists. The privacy of a suntanning bed or booth allows more complete exposure to the benefits of the tanning rays, allowing a more even, golden tan than uncontrolled outdoor suntanning. Besides, there's no sand to cling to your skin, and no insects to contend with.

Additionally, there is strong evidence according to Dr. Lewey, of the University of Oregon, that exposure to controlled Ultraviolet rays has a positive psychological effect for most people. A sense of well being and lessening of depression are experienced by many. Physical and medical benefits are to be had as well. According to Dr. Zane Kime, author of "Sunlight Could Save Your Life", UV Suntanning rays produce an effect similar to that of physical training, causing a measurable improvement in physical fitness. Also, he says that other benefits include: *Decrease in blood sugar and blood pressure and an *Increase in endurance, energy, and strength.

Please do not take this to mean you can get a suntan and then discontinue treatment of a medical condition. We are not doctors. However, your doctor may soon notice improvements in blood sugar, or blood pressure, and alter your treatment as a result of these effects of UV exposure.

In short, once you become as tan as you would like to be, you will look and feel better. If you have specific questions about the medical or biological effects of suntanning, please ask. We'll do our best to answer you, or refer you to a medical authority for an answer.

How UV Light Effects the Skin. Ultraviolet (UV) light rays have long been known to help the human body produce a vitamin D that is more useful than any found in our diet. Also, UV rays help regulate our body's metabolism.

However, it has not been until relatively recent times that the biological effects of UV were more completely understood. UV rays, which are invisible to the human eye, are separated into 3 groups, by wavelengths.

UV-C is the shortest wavelength in the UV spectrum. UV-C would pose great danger to all life on earth if it were not largely filtered out by the ozone layer and other components of our atmosphere. UV-C rays kill living cells, and are used in dairy plants to sterilize packaging and handling machinery.

Modern sunbeds and sunbooths such as those found in a modern suntanning salon do not emit UV-C, but only carefully controlled UV-B and UV-A Rays.

UV-B Rays are responsible for triggering the suntanning response. Outdoors, these "middle range" UV rays can cause sunburn when the skin is exposed for too long a period. A severe sunburn is a serious medical condition, which may require a doctor's care. Less severe sunburns may be cared for with cool baths and a good moisturizing lotion containing no alcohol.

Modern suntanning equipment produces just enough UV-B to start the production of Melanin ( a natural pigment that protects the skin from sunburn). Until about 1981, UV-B producing booths and home sunlamps were all that were available in the U.S.

By the way, some types of home sunlamps should be avoided due to high levels of dangerous UVB output unless you have one that uses blue or pink florescent lights.

UV-A rays are the longest, gentlest UV rays. Since about 1970, Europeans have enjoyed the use of UVA suntanning equipment. By some accounts, modern UVA producing lamps were invented in Germany. Others say the idea originated in the Scandinavian countries. In any case, we now can enjoy the use of sunbeds and booths that produce UV-A almost exclusively, with just enough UV-B to initiate the suntanning process. These sophisticated suntanning machines have only been widely available in the U.S. since about 1982. Many of them are designed according to specifications developed by Dr. Freiderich Wolff, hence the "Wolff System" trademark so familiar to salon patrons. Dr. Wolff is regarded by many as the "father" of indoor suntanning. Other systems are also available.

Your skin type will determine how well you suntan. Everything depends on how much prior UV exposure your skin has had, and on an inherited ability to produce the melanin suntanning pigment in large or small granules. Melanocytes (pigment producing skin cells) are found in about the same number in different skin types. More on this follows, but suffice it to say the if you can suntan outdoors then you can suntan at a salon. Due to advice from knowledgeable employees and controlled exposures, salon tanning is less likely to cause the kind of overexposure that cause heath and beauty concerns.

Even if you don't suntan very well outdoors, a salon may be able to improve your success at getting a nice tan. Controlled exposures and proper skin care products may yield the best tan of your life.

If you always sunburn, we can help prevent that for all but a very small number of people such as those with skin type 1 (albino and nearly albino skin) or those with severe sun allergies.

Persons who are albino, and persons with health conditions that require them to avoid sun exposure, should never try to suntan in a salon.

In addition to the health benefits already mentioned, there are many other biological effects of UV rays. Outdoors, or with outdated home sunlamps, increased risk of skin cancer and premature aging of the skin are negative effects of UV exposure according to some "TV and radio" doctors.

However, much scientific debate on the subject has yet to conclusively link moderate indoor suntanning to such risks. Almost any dermatologist who is up on current suntanning equipment technology, and that's not all of them, knows that indoor suntanning is much, much smarter than outdoor sunbathing.

In fact, almost all skin cancer risk is associated with repeated severe sunburning, which can't happen at a properly managed salon. Every year, we come closer totally eliminating any risk at all. It is likely according to Dr. Kime, that a diet heavy in polyunsaturated fats is more responsible for skin cancer causing conditions than sun exposure. A good diet, he says, and moderate, consistent UV exposure helps free the skin of toxins that could lead to skin cancer.

One word of caution is in order when suntanning at a salon. Your eyes are susceptible to damage from being so close the UV lamps if you do not wear special eye protection. You must wear special eyeshields that are certified to comply with strict standards regulating sunlamp products. Never tan without proper eyeshields.