Sunbeds should be banned!

Why is it so important to have a tan? Can anyone answer that for me? For a while now I have been against the use of sunbeds and believe they should be completely banned, all tanning salons closed down and the sale of sunbeds banned too. Skin cancer is on the rise with the majority of cases being caused by sunbed use. I ruined my skin using them when I was younger and without a doubt it's one of the biggest regrets of my life. I wish I'd never ever used one. Obviously I can only blame myself however I do have to say that there was a lot of peer pressure to look brown in the town where I grew up and I wish I had never given in to it.

From about the age of 20 up until the age of approximately 30 I would use a sunbed regularly. I went through a period of very regular use of at least 3 times a week. I thought it was a good idea to purchase an intensive sunbed offer from a salon that provided intensive vertical sunbeds on which you only needed 3 minutes at a time to get a strong full on blast of UV rays. I would burn and come out as red as a beetroot thinking I looked good! Let me just add here that I have very fair skin prone to freckles (I am half Irish) and I never tan in the sun no matter how hard I try, so why I thought it would be any different on a sunbed I don't know.

Now my skin is dry and coarse and since turning 30 it has developed many more freckles, moles and other little lumps and bumps that can only be described as warts! Nice! Attractive! I hear you say to yourselves! Well no not really. I put all that down to using sunbeds when I was younger; also from getting deliberately burnt in the sun. I'm now 37 and I think I have aged much sooner than I should have done. I've certainly got more wrinkles than I should have at my age and don't get me started on age spots! I never expected to get those on my face and hands yet! I have tried and am currently trying different products to fade my age spots but none have worked thus far.

So I am now on a mission to try and restore the goodness back into my skin and try to make up for the trauma I have put it through. For example I wear at least SPF30 on my face EVERY day whether it's sunny or not. My intention was to wear SPF30 on exposed parts of my body every day too but that doesn't happen unless it's sunny. I never ever use a sunbed anymore and haven't done for at least 7 years. I stay in the shade as much as possible and I wear sunglasses all the time to prevent my eye area getting any more wrinkled and more importantly to protect my eyesight; the eyes too are very prone to damage from tanning equipment, especially the cornea.

I have a son who is 22 months old and you can imagine how anal I am about making sure he has SPF50 on every day. He also wears a legionnaire style sunhat outside whenever it's sunny and I keep him in the shade as much as possible too. I do let him wear shorts and t-shirts, I'm not that bad, his skin would never get used to the sun otherwise. 

People use sunbeds because they think they will look better and yet they will probably end up looking old prematurely and possibly getting skin cancer. Sunbeds are linked to two types of skin cancer, called Basal Cell and Squamous Cell Carcinoma. There is also sufficient evidence to show that using sunbeds causes the most serious form of skin cancer, Malignant Melanoma. If you spot any moles, freckles or patches of skin that change it's worth making a visit to your doctor before it's too late. Last year I had a lump removed from the skin on my shoulder, luckily it was benign. I did get my shoulders extremely badly burnt when I was about 13 so I'm not surprised.

I cannot believe that tanning salons and the Sunbed Association advertise the use of sunbeds as having 'health benefits'! They ARE NOT a controlled way to get a tan, it's no safer than exposing yourself to full on sun on the beach or wherever.

You can tell those who use sunbeds. To me a tan just says 'damaged skin'. It just makes me think they are sunning themselves into an early grave. 

 
I blame Coco Chanel! In the 1920's it was she who made being bronzed fashionable. In the past affluent women did everything they could to be as white as they could be from painting their faces with lead paint (also not very healthy!) to applying copious amounts of white powder to their faces. It was only the poor who worked in the fields who had tans back then. Apparently Coco Chanel went on holiday to the South of France and came back with a tan, suddenly that then became the 'must-have' of that time and ever since really.

My message to you is to think carefully before using a sunbed whether it's for the first time or for the millionth time. Is it really worth it?

I wish that I could have learned to be proud to be pale when I was younger, like I am proud now.

Please share this post with your friends and networks, it might help save someone.