The ultimate guilty pleasure

With the cold months of winter here, people are bundled with layers of clothes and losing the color they got in the summer.

Asked whether the Tan Company got more business in the winter an employee answered, unsurprisingly, yes. In fact, according to skincancerprevention.org, two million Americans tan indoors every day.

I tan indoors about four times a week during winter. I not only love how the tanning bed feels on my skin and relaxes me but how it allows me to take a short nap. It also boosts my self-confidence.

However, tanning does not come without risks.

When people tan in tanning beds they are hurting their skin, possibly damaging their eyes and raising their risk of skin cancer. According to the FDA, people who tan in tanning beds before age 35, are 75% more likely to get skin cancer than those who don't use tanning beds.

According to cancer.org melanoma is the most common type of cancer. It is also the most serious of the skin cancers. 68,130 Americans were diagnosed with melanoma in 2010.

Dr. Janice Goddard said tanning indoors should not be done. She said any time people expose their bodies to something that's not natural can get them into trouble. Goddard adds to that by saying tanning causes skin to age.

One sign of skin cancer is a change in size or color of moles or the growth of new moles.

Junior and legal studies major Megan Tongue had two moles she highly disliked. In 2009, as a high school graduation present Tongue's best friend's dad, a plastic surgeon, removed these moles, which were located on her back. After removing the moles, Tongue learned they were cancerous and was diagnosed with malignant melanoma.

When Tongue was diagnosed, she was told she had stage-five cancer and was given three months to live. When she found out she had cancer, she said she felt terrible for her parents, especially because she is an only child. She thought about the people her cancer would affect. She was sad for the people it would affect and because she would never go to college, get married or have children.

One of the craziest things about Tongue getting skin cancer is that she didn't tan in tanning beds more than ten times a year. She said the only time she would tan would be for homecoming or prom and would tan maybe five times for each.

Tongue got skin cancer with hardly ever laying in a tanning bed. Tongue said people, like her, with fair skin, light eyes and light hair are more likely to get skin cancer than others.

Luckily, Tongue's bleak prognosis was false.  Her cancer had actually progressed to stage four, and was caught in time to save Tongue's life.

Tongue still has to take precautions, such as, seeing a dermatologist and getting blood tests every three months and x-rays every six months. Tongue said if her dermatologist had it her way she wouldn't be allowed to go outside between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. because that is when the sun's at its strongest. Tongue said that is no way to live. She is just extra careful now when she is outside, and she makes sure to put on sunscreen every day. 

Tongue has been through a lot because of her cancer and that includes having skin removed often. Tongue says she has a lot of "gnarly scars" because of the skin removal. When first treating cancer, she had eight pounds of skin removed from her back alone.

Tongue said that having skin cancer has changed her for the better because she is more ambitious now and doesn't take anything for granted.

Tongue wanted people that tan indoors to know, "You can get skin cancer. Nothing is wrong with wearing a bikni to the pool, but there is everything wrong laying in a tanning bed."

She said she wishes people would, "embrace being pale."  Sadly, few people do.

In today's society tan skin is considered beautiful. So the question becomes:  Is there a way to tan safely?

There is an alternative to tanning in a tanning bed.

Junior fashion marketing major, Cassie Raskins, has been getting spray tans for about two years. Cassie said she went tanning indoors a few times while in high school, but she prefers spray tans because the tan is immediate and spray tans are better for your skin.

For Cassie, having a tan boosts her self-esteem. "If someone gave me $200 to spend on new clothes or a spray tan membership, I'd pick the tan membership every time. It makes me feel good and look better in anything that I own," Raskins said.

When asked if spray tans have health risks, Goddard said she didn't know if any health risks have been proven for spray tanning but she said, "Anything that a child under one can't have on their body, I don't want on mine either."

I now think twice about tanning.

Is having tan skin, twenty minutes of relaxation, and a boost in my self-esteem worth the risks that come with indoor tanning? Is having tan skin worth having bad skin later in life? Is it worth the possibility of getting skin cancer and putting my family through taking care of and possibly losing me? Is fitting into society's image of beauty worth the damage it may cause in the future?

The answer is no, but I'm not sure I can quit.