What Are the Effects of Using Solariums?

With solariums, customers can trade healthy skin for a fashionable tan. In 2007, an estimated 30 million Americans used indoor tanning facilities such as solariums. Solariums are another kind of tanning booth, designed to fill the skin with UV rays to induce the skin to produce melatonin. Melatonin darkens the skin to protect it from damage. Solariums can cause significant skin problems, contrary to popular belief.

Misconceptions

• A common misconception is that solariums are safer than tanning outside, according to the pharmaceutical company Clinuvel. Instead, solariums become more dangerous as companies seek to develop solariums that emit frequencies more closely matched to natural sunlight to accelerate the tan.

Cancer Risk

• Solariums are very popular in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. However, dermatologists, the Cancer Council Australia and the Cancer Society of New Zealand do not recommend the use of solariums because of their skin cancer risk. Like the sun, the solarium can increase the user's chances of getting skin cancer.

Skin Damage

• Besides causing cancer, solariums also damages the skin and makes the skin look older. Solariums do not produce tans that look natural, unlike natural sunlight. UVA radiation penetrates the lower layers of skin and causes the skin to develop blotchiness, wrinkling, roughening and looseness. In extreme cases, UVA radiation can cause sunburn. Solariums cause skin itchiness and dryness. Some users even develop skin rashes or blisters. The solarium causes aged skin that is reversible only by cosmetic surgery.

Eye Damage

• Solariums can permanently cause damage to the eyes and cause inflammation. Solarium users often wear sunglasses to protect themselves. Solarium exposure increases the risk of skin and eye malignant melanoma. Pre-cancerous actinic keratosis and Bowen's disease can develop after just two or three years of regular solarium use. Long-term eye exposure to the solarium causes cataracts, a white or creamy opaque growth on the cornea and squamous cell cancer.

Those Most At Risk

• Users taking antibiotics or diuretics have an increased sensitivity to the solarium and can develop a painful rash as a result. Solariums are very dangerous to fair-skinned individuals who never tan and usually burn. These individuals are often not allowed to use the solarium. Those under 18 have a very high risk of developing skin cancer if they use the solarium. A one-time use of the solarium can potentially cause melanoma, but the chances of developing this disease increase significantly with long-term exposure.