If you smoke in a sunbed, does that increase your risk?

Um, duh? Although it's always fun to hear people try to explain to me why tanning beds won't cause cancer, while regular sunlight does. Pseudoscience is FUN!

I have more than a few moles and my mother's already had a cancerous one removed. I'm screwed anyway, but why increase my chances?

Everything causes cancer these days. I've given up on the concept of avoiding every known carcinogen, because it's simply not possible. If you live in a city, you're breathing in carcinogens in the air. If you go out in the sun, you're getting bombarded with carcinogens on your skin. Hell, if you drink water, you're most likely consuming trace amounts of carcinogens. And you can't avoid going out in the sun or physical activity because, you guessed it, a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of Vitamin D contribute to colorectal cancer.

It seems the only way to lead a fulfilling life these days is to die before middle age. Maybe Jim Morrison had it right all along.

This just in: cancer causes cancer.

Live a healthy life (aka don't smoke), don't mine coal, don't drink diet coke, get a colonoscopy and see a dermatologist yearly and you'll be better off than most.

@hungryhomer: Wow common sense! Not as common as they say I guess, but I completely agree with you. I feel the same way about plastic containers, cell phones giving you brain cancer, and eating eggs. I'd rather enjoy the life I'm living than spend all my time trying to avoid things.

@hungryhomer: It's all about moderation, I think. Normal exposure to the sun vs. Tanning beds is sort of like the difference between the amount of alcohol a social drinker consumes vs. an alcoholic. Or the difference between normal eating habits vs. compulsive eating. Lots of things that aren't bad for you in normal proportions are very bad for you in higher quantities.

I'm waiting for a study to be made on the effects of those suntan moisturizers (the kind that make you slowly get a "summer glow"). It would be nice to tell my friends that there are other, more dangerous effects thanks to these lotions other than obvious streaks, stinky skin, and looking orange.

I guess I'll get ready to die. I'm super fair skinned, have at least 100 little moles, baked in tanning beds in the 1980's, and had childhood sunburns so bad my eyes swelled shut and I threw up for days. Sun poisoning I guess.

Remember back in the 80's, if you used Coppertone SPF 2 you were some kind of wuss? Straight baby oil if you wanted to get a "good tan."

When I went to my new dermatologist for a skin cancer screening recently, she looked at me and said "Uh, you're going to have to come back for a second appointment. I'm only going to be able to get to one side of you today."

My kid is really fair skinned too. I dunk him in sunscreen and put a baseball cap on him to keep the sun out of his eyes. I hope he never gets those bad burns like I did as a kid. Those burns that made you sick for days. It's like radiation sickness.

@SpruceStreetPhil: I'll have to agree with Homer, everything causes cancer.

See: [en.wikipedia.org]

This story seems to be trying to make some bizarre comparison between sun/sunlamp exposure and having a large number of moles.

Having a large number of moles is an indicator that you are more susceptible to getting skin cancer. They don't actually cause the cancer.

Sun/sunlamp exposure actually causes cancer in some people. People, particularly those who are more susceptible to skin cancer, should try to limit their exposure.

Not having a lot of moles doesn't automatically = go ahead and fry yourself under a sunlamp.

cancer or not, i used to have to walk past a tanning salon all the time to go visit my friend at work and it just always smelled like frying meat. ewww

i had my first suspicious mole removed at age 7. the dermatologist told me then, in the early 80's, to avoid the sun.
and yes, my most recent bloodwork shows vitamin D deficiency.

this just in: living leads to death!

Ew. Tans are so nasty, I don't understand the obsession. Why would anyone wanna lay in a bed where god knows who & how many NAKED people laid before you. I'm ashamed to say I tanned for about a year back in high school & now I avoid the sun like the plague & drink milk for vitamin D. I think I dodged the bullet- I haven't had any mole changes & I don't have any wrinkles.

I remember my mom smearing herself with baby oil & just FRYING her skin in the backyard back in the 80s, it hurts my flesh just to think about it.

Pale is beautiful!!!

My preferred technique for avoiding skin cancer is to stay indoors all summer.

...and meanwhile, I just spent six long hours in the sun for a relaxing sunset longboarding session, with minimal sunscreen on, and I plan on doing the same tomorrow.

I'm going to have Hulk Hogan skin in five years.

I've always read get the moles checked out . Let's face it they are abnormal growths . I've also heard the darker the mole or freckel be leary.

And from what I have read over the years it is your sun exposure in your younger years that turns into Melonoma .

Personally I think your body predispositioned to alot of these cancers not by genetics but the perfect confluence of events including exposure to various chemicals & enviorments,your good or bad diet,your over all health,how you stress or abuse your body etc but not just one cause .

Then I hear sunlight vitamin D is one of the best sources of vitamin D and yet it's like stay out of the sun . The sun can serve a purpose or two to the body other than heat . I know people where the docs told them go out in the sun without sunscreen at least 15 minutes a day to cure some skin conditions.

@hungryhomer: Die young. Stay pretty.

Hm... I'm also super fair skinned and have at least 100 small moles. Hrm...

@hungryhomer: That's all fine and good, but there's a big difference between breathing the air where you live and paying money to lie in a tanning bed and have your body bombarded by UV rays. So yeah, I'd say avoiding tanning beds is a worthy cause, and I'll keep doing it.

@kabuk1: There's nothing wrong with getting a little sun. It's healthy to be outdoors. Just don't roast yourself. Put on some sunscreen. I prefer to get my vitamin D from the sun, not from supplements. This is partly due to my lack of dedication to taking supplements. But also because I really like the sun, a feeling which only comes after I've applied sunscreen.

@SpruceStreetPhil: Nah; being alive causes cancer. Dead people don't get it.

@Julia789: baby oil and iodine - and worse I went to school at the beach so we just baked in the stuff constantly.

As a kid, I used to burn so bad fever blisters would break out on my mouth.

I am from Phoenix AZ and have very fair skin. I used to bake in the sun when I was a kid (playing like normal) because nobody thought of any danger. This along with standing up in the back seat and jumping to the front seat of my grandparents big car while they were driving, riding in the bed of my dads Ranchero (which is illegal now), and playing blocks away from home all day long in the summertime (no "playdates"). Too much will hurt you, but so will too little sun. So we can take precautions but can't be like chicken little with the sky is falling. Just saying.

next week the Ne Dheli institute of medicine will have definitive proof that sun beds work well with cancer patients

@katstermonster: So forgo seatbelts too, since we're all gonna die anyhow?

Basically we're talking risk reduction. Because you can't (easily, short of moving) avoid breathing toxins in the air, doesn't eliminate the benefit of eliminating risks you can avoid - such as tanning beds, smoking, poor diet, driving while drunk, etc.

To me, "everything causes cancer" and giving up is being lazy and avoiding your personal responsibility for your health.

Shall we charge higher insurance premiums for those who make no effort to maintain their health?

@H3ion: I dunno. How fast can you run?

@BabyFirefly: The chemicals are awful and you shouldn't use them while pregnant? Also they don't protect your skin from sun damage.

Can someone explain to me the concept of using a sunbed to build up a "base tan" before going on a holiday (like a cruise) that will involve a lot of sun exposure? My friends claim that by getting a base tan, they won't have to worry about applying sunscreen as often. I feel like sun exposure is sun exposure, and while they may be avoiding getting a burn, they're still upping their risk.

@aloria: I used a tanning bed before going on spring break to Mexico (on a cruise). It was in March and I'd spent all winter in Pittsburgh and was quite pale. I'm VERY fair skinned to begin with so I wanted SOME sun exposure before I took my alabaster skin out under the Mexican sun. I'm not sure how much it helped, since when I was on the cruise, I reapplied sunscreen (SPF 8 or so I think) every 15-20 minutes. I was out for a few hours, but I didn't get burned.

Unlike my roommate, who had also gone tanning in the weeks before and was not nearly as contientious about putting on sunscreen while insisting on spending 6 hours sunning herself on the deck on day 1 of the cruise. She spent the rest of our trip complaining about how bad her sunburn hurt.

I think you'll be less likely to burn if you start out slowly and have some tan present before you go, but having a "base tan" is no excuse to forgo sunscreen.

I have to wonder about sun exposure and the incidence of cancer. People in the occidental world now spend a good deal of their time indoors, but this wasn't always true, especially before the Industrial Revolution when most people were agricultural workers.

Obviously they spent much more time outdoors than we do. Has there been any research into the incidence of skin cancer, then? How does it compare to the present day? Why is there no historical perspective on this?

....... white people

@PsiCop: I'm pretty sure there was an ozone layer to speak of before the industrial revolution came along and poked holes in it. :-\

@SkokieGuy: That last thing about the insurance...yes please. I'd like to pay less for trying to take care of myself while I watch people in my office smoke and over eat while doing nothing healthy at all.

@ceriphim: Sorry but they include Gamma Rays, we all know what gamma rays cause and it ain't cancer.

(for none geek/nerd folks: it's massive size and strength, but only when you're afraid or angry. Side effect warning: green skin)

You people are so lucky. I spent 45 minutes in the sun to do a little yard work the weekend and almost got a sun burn. That is ridiculous its like I'm not allowed in the sun without spf 1000. I might need to check my neck for bite marks.

does anyone know a good way to get rid of moles? i've had to resort to cutting them off w/ fingernail clippers.

@Cliff_Donner: PS:

number of moles you're born with = something you can't control

amount of time exposed to sun/sunlamp = something you can control.