Jul 11, 2009 5:15 pm US/Central
Dermatologists Stress Safety In The Summer Sun
DENVER (CBS) ―
Melanoma is the number one form of cancer found in young women ages 20 to 29. As Americans are out in the sun this summer, dermatologists stress how important it is to protect the skin, CBS station KCNC-TV reports.
"No matter what you hear, it's important to remember that no tan is a safe tan simply because the color you get from a tan is actually caused by skin cells releasing chemicals as they are damaged and that damage is intensified in a tanning bed," said CBS station KCNC-TV Medical Editor Dr. Dave Hnida.
Jodi Duke, 32, learned that lesson the hard way. She was diagnosed with a stage four melanoma when she was 19-years-old.
"I honestly thought there never could be anything wrong," she said.
What went wrong is that the fair-skinned, red-haired, Duke was forcing her skin to tan by using tanning beds nearly every day.
"It was just every day, all the time, and it was like my addiction," Duke remembered.
Duke says she remembers getting a high from using the beds. She believes her addiction to tanning led to her cancer. Duke went through surgery and 52 weeks of intense chemotherapy to kill the cancer. More than ten years later she still gets her skin checked regularly and she's become an advocate for sun protection.
"I think it's important to find your own beauty to recognize that you're beautiful without having to go to a tanning salon, without having to do anything to yourself," Duke said.
Even the most protected skin has hidden sun damage. Dr. Bob Dellavalle used a special UV camera to show the damage his skin has that can't be seen with the eye.
"All of this modeled pigmentation is mainly due to sun damage over my lifetime," said Dellavalle, Chief of Dermatology at the Veteran's Administration Hospital and Associate Professor of Dermatology at the University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine.
He says that the damage done by tanning beds is even worse.
"Up to 10-times more intense then the outside UV light," Dellavalle added.
"This time of year a lot of people going on vacation think hitting the tanning bed for a tune up will head off a sunburn, but that's not the case. Melanoma and other skin cancers is a big price to pay for your summertime get away," said Hnida.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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