I recently visited the dermatologist for the first time in awhile. When filling out the forms you have to mark whether you have tanned in a tanning salon before. I have a few times, before dances and never thought it was that big of a deal. Of course the dermatologist touches on the subject and told me some pretty surprising statistics.

Tanning in a tanning bed just four times can raise your chance of getting skin cancer 86%. Whats interesting is that most teens that tan know the statistics, and are just willing to risk it. Recently there has been a ton of information on the news and state legislation passing laws on the matter. Even though a lot of attention is being drawn to it, girls still find their ways to the salons.

Through all of this legislation being passed and research coming out I think there is a correaltion between tanning and smoking. Years ago smoking was common, many people did it because they didn’t the things it could cause. Slowly research started coming and laws on cigarettes were passed. Today nearly everyone knows that smoking causes cancer. I think that in ten years tanning will be similar in that most people will know the causes and it will be common information.