Stephanie Whelan & Sydney Gran
Staff Writers
Being pale used to be a sign of wealth, but today being tan is a sign of wealth and beauty.
Tanning overtime runs the risk and increases chances of acquiring skin cancer. Tanning in a tanning bed not only increases chances of acquiring types of skin cancer by over 50 percent but is also harder on skin than getting a tan from UVA rays, according to teenhealth.com.
Individuals with freckles and light complexion have a higher; chance of developing skin cancer. Those with olive skin complexion and dark hair have less of a chance of developing this, but the risk still stands.
A student survey of 87 total was taken on tanning and the results stated that over 75 percent of students do not tan in a tanning bed. The other 25 percent who do not tan in a tanning bed, prefer to tan in the sun with oil.
School nurse JoAnn Nester said, “Tanning in tanning beds puts people at a high risk for cancer, especially melanoma.”
Melanoma is an extremely invasive cancer and is the leading cause of death from skin disease.
Stephanie Lowe, had a friend who had melanoma. Lowedescribed her friend. “She had blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and went tanning all the time in high school. Now she has a big scar on her shoulder from getting the melanoma cut out of her skin.”
The scar was about the size of a business card. Now she will have that scar for the rest of her life.
