Say no to Indoor Tanning Beds. Know More. Do Better.

With May being Skin Cancer Awareness Month and in tandem with our event today co-hosted with the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program, The Hazards and Allure of Indoor Tanning Beds on College Campuses we are running a series on skin cancer. Be sure to check back daily for posts on skin cancer including how you prevent and detect it. Enjoy! I CONFESS… I went to a tanning bed before attending a destination wedding, thinking I was getting a “base coat” that would prevent me from getting a sunburn. I used a sun lamp in high school, thinking it would clear my blemished skin. I used to wrap a vinyl record album cover with aluminum foil to create a sun reflecting visor in an effort to focus and magnify the sun’s rays. I used baby oil or sun tan lotion with an SPF of 2 or 4 when tanning. But, in the words of Maya Angelou, “Now that I know better, I do better.” The choices I made were based on a lack of information or bad information I was given in my childhood.  Now, as a mother of teenagers and executive director of the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program of the Prevent Cancer Foundation, I am passionate about educating my family and other families about the dangers of indoor tanning beds and how to be safe in the sun. Did you know that just one indoor tanning session increase the chances of developing melanoma by 20%? Did you know that over the past 40 years, melanoma incidence has increased by a staggering 800 percent among young women ag...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Cancer prevent cancer foundation skin cancer Tanning bed Source Type: blogs