Do you visit tanning salons to get a little bronze glow in the off-season? Beware: it may cause wrinkles (not to mention skin cancer). But being the age-obsessed society that we are, the wrinkle factor seems to be a better deterrent for tanning salon lovers than melanoma.
Although previous studies showed the use of indoor tanning devices can increase the risk of melanomas -- the deadliest form of skin cancer -- by 75 percent, women often refuse to cut back on indoor tanning.
"They're not worried about skin cancer, but they are worried about getting wrinkled and being unattractive," said Northwestern University Professor June Robinson of the Feinberg School of Medicine and the study's senior author. She led investigators in determining the best strategy to wean college-age women who are frequent tanners from using tanning salons.
"The fear of looking horrible trumped everything else," Robinson said.
She said the study's findings showed warning young women about the effects on their appearance caused a 35 percent drop in their indoor tanning visits.
East Tennessee State University Professor Joel Hillhouse, lead author of the paper, noted some women in the study eventually stopped tanning. "It was a progressive kind of thing," he said. "At first the women said they tried sunless tanning as an alternative, but over time they gave up tanning altogether."
The research is reported in the journal Archives of Dermatology. Robinson -- the editor of the journal -- was not involved in the editorial evaluation or decision to accept the article, officials said.
