Tanning beds: Safe?

[rick055]

I was thinking of using a tanning bed (sparingly) through the winter to combat the lack of sunlight, increase vitamin D, etc...

From what I understand they can be beneficial in combatting depression, etc...

But are they safe? I'm not talking about going enough to "get tan", I'm talking about "theraputic use", if there is such a thing.

There was an article I just read that said no amount of tanning is safe, I have read other articles which suggest it's your bodies BEST defense against cancer.

What gives?

 

[engival]

heres a link for you

http://www.mercola.com/2001/may/12/tanning_beds.htm

 

[rick055]

Interesting, indeed.

The UV seems okay, the EMF does not. I'll have to run this by my tanning provider.

 

[Jeff]

My personal opinion is to not mess with it, the risks of getting melanoma far outweigh any therapeutic benefit. I just got done dealing with a case of melanoma, it was a painful, painful experience.

 

[rick055]

My personal opinion is to not mess with it, the risks of getting melanoma far outweigh any therapeutic benefit. I just got done dealing with a case of melanoma, it was a painful, painful experience.

Thanks for your input and I wish you well.

How are you doing?

 

[dsade]

Safe? not completely, much like anything else. There are precautions you can take (don't overdo it, use a high quality lotion, etc.) to mitigate damage.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks for your input and I wish you well.

How are you doing?

Thanks for asking. I'm better now, but I have a lot less skin and only half of my lymph nodes on my left leg. If I would have let it go much longer it would have been a lot worse. My lymph nodes came back clear so it had gotten past my skin yet.

From what I learned from the Derm and the Oncologist, the jury is kind of out on what actually is the causing factor. just make sure you are checking your freckles where you don't get any sun exposure at all because all of your skin has an immune reaction (more pronounced with bed exposure then real sun) and they will show up in the weirdest places. Mine was high up on my upper thigh that didn't even get sun when I wore a speedo for swim team.