Coming on the heels of the announcement that California is banning tanning bed usage for minors, new research (presented at the International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research) has found even more reason to forgo the UV beds.
Researchers tracked the tanning bed habits of 73,000 nurses during high school and college, and then again when the participants were between the ages of 25-35. What they found: Tanning beds increased skin cancer risk over time, and the more visits to the tanning salon, the higher the risk for skin cancer.
The risk for basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma increased 15 percent for every four visits to an indoor tanning bed each year compared to women who didn't use tanning beds. The risk for melanoma (the deadliest form of skin cancer) also went up by 11 percent.