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Tanning beds have emerged as the leading "non-sunny" cause of melanoma development
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Exposure to sunlight is the leading "natural" cause of skin cancer, and in Western Europe, tanning beds have become the leading "non-solar" source of ultraviolet radiation.
A 2005 study found a 75 percent increased risk of melanoma if people started using tanning beds in their teens or early adulthood. However, no studies have since assessed the impact of tanning beds on melanoma in Western Europe. Scientists from the International Research Institute for Disease Prevention (France) and the European Institute of Oncology (Italy) filled this gap by analyzing the results of 27 studies on the link between skin cancer and artificial tanning conducted between 1981 and 2012 in the UK, France and Germany.
The total number of skin cancer cases among respondents was 11,428. It turned out that solarium increases the likelihood of developing melanoma by 20%, and if a person starts tanning under the artificial sun before the age of 35, the figure rises to 87%. In addition, each additional session in a solarium increased the risk of the disease by 1.8%.
According to the authors’ calculations, of the 63,942 new cases of melanoma diagnosed annually in 18 Western European countries, 3,438 cases and 794 deaths (498 women and 296 men) are caused by solariums. The scientists believe that previous studies underestimated the risks of tanning under artificial UV rays, since solariums have become widespread not so long ago. Preventing melanoma and other types of skin cancer associated with the fashionable scourge is very simple: stop going to such establishments. It would also be useful to prohibit these cancer factories from serving clients under 18 (such bans are currently in effect in Australia, some European countries and only one American state, California).
By the way, it has been proven that those who love to sunbathe in a solarium are driven by an addictive neurological trigger of reward and reinforcement, that is, the love of such a tan is akin to drug addiction and alcoholism.