Younger Generations More Scared of Wrinkles Than Skin Cancer
In an article for MSNBC, Diane Mapes investigates what it actually takes to speak to this increasingly looks-conscious crowd about the dangers of melanoma-the second most common type of cancer among the 20-29 year-old age group. Although alarming, a not surprising find is that wrinkles and not the potential threat of skin cancer, is a bigger concern to this age group.
When 49-year-old Kylee Baumle recently found out both her father and her husband were diagnosed with skin cancer, she looked back at her own youth spent working on a golden tan by the pool, and wonders what she was thinking. Kylee is not alone. Studies are finding that despite increased knowledge about the danger of UV rays, today’s younger generations continue to frequent both beaches and tanning booths.
“Wrinkles are definitely more of a concern than skin cancer,” says a 23-year-old quoted in the article. Dr. Heike Mahler, psychology professor at the University of California, San Diego, conducted studies of about 2,000 college students, and found this to be a commonly held opinion. Mahler also noticed that a future threat of skin cancer was not enough of a motivator to get twenty-somethings, who still feel a cultural pressure to be tan, to change their sun-worshiping ways.
Instead, Mahler decided to take a different approach, which she calls “appearance-based interventions.” Using a special ultra-violet camera which reveals sun damage, she photographed college students and then actually showed them the extent of the sun damage they had done to their skin. The pictures revealed age spots and uneven pigmentation, and most participants were shocked to see such significant amounts of sun damage on their skin-especially considering their ages. A study in Health Psychology showed that among the 133 UCSD students photographed, Mahler’s intervention led to safer sun practices for a full year.
With the dangers of tanning well documented, why is it so hard to kick the habit? New studies are finding that the practice of tanning can actually become addictive, because UV light creates a “relaxing” effect. According to The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 12% of students at the University of Washington were shown to have developed UV light dependence similar to an alcohol or drug addiction. Out of those 385 students, even those with a history of skin cancer in their families continued to tan on a regular basis. Dr. Arielle Kauvar, clinical associate professor of dermatology at New York University School of Medicine, argues that people should approach addictive tanning behavior in a similar fashion to how smoking and drug addictions are approached. She advocates preventing minors from using indoor tanning facilities, and posting medical warnings about the hazards of indoor tanning beds.
Mahler also found that a bigger issue added to the allure of tanning: celebrity appeal. “If we could show college students images of beautiful models who are not tan, or celebrities would come forth and acknowledge that they’re getting spray-on tans rather than subjecting themselves to harmful UV rays, it would have a huge impact,” Mahler says.
In the end, most people agree that it’s easier to protect people from ever starting to tan than it is to change an existing behavior, so the key is to help our younger generations make better decisions before it is too late.