Tanning Risks On The Rise For Teens
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
With prom season and summer break right around the corner, teens may want to think twice before hitting the tanning booths. NY1's Shazia Khan filed the following report.Stefani Gartenberg had started to visit tanning booths in her sophomore year in high school.
"Probably each year I went like 10 to 15 times, definitely when I went into college it increased, there were more reasons that you wanted to be tan in college, so probably 20 to 30 each year then," said Gartenberg.
You won't find Gartenberg under the bulbs today. Just last month, the 25-year-old underwent surgery for melanoma.
"I didn't think it was going to affect me, I definitely didn't think it was going to affect me," said Gartenberg.
While Gartenberg's skin cancer could have been the result of a number of risk factors, doctors believe the use of tanning booths may be a significant factor in the recent increased incidence of skin cancer in younger patients.
"Studies have also shown that a majority of one's skin cancer that develops later on in life has to do with the ultraviolet radiation that you get before the age of 18, and it's creating an alarming incidence in rising skin caner and certainly a combination of tanning booth visits as well as sun exposure is responsible for these skin cancers," said Surgical Dermatologist Dr. Ariel Ostad.
Ostad says tanning booths are even more dangerous than the sun.
"The light bulbs that are used in these tanning booths really are a carcinogen," said Ostad. "Studies have shown that the lights that emit mainly ultraviolet A radiation are actually stronger than the ultraviolet A radiation that is emitted from the sun."
New York law prohibits children under 14 from using tanning booths. Teens between the ages of 14 and 18 need parental consent to sit under the lights. But doctors say parents should educate themselves and their kids before agreeing to anything.
"When parents have a heart to heart discussion with their kids about what the negative affects of tanning booths as well as sun are, hopefully teenagers will have a better understanding," said Ostad.
As for Gartenberg, she says it's a lesson learned.
"Now I will be pale for the rest of my life, but I will be health," said Gartenberg.