CShine

Just what the world needs, another wacked-out obsession for teenage girls.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...de/4539679.stm

maleficent

Article:

'Tanorexic' teenager risks cancer
Hayley Barlow, 14, from West Derby in Liverpool, used to sneak to the solarium after telling her mother she was going out to the cinema.

The teenager, who has been labelled a "tanorexic" as she uses sunbeds so often, says being brown "suits her".

But doctors say her tanning has given her the skin of a 25-year-old.

Photographs of her face taken under ultra violet light show her skin is heavily pigmented, especially around her eyes and nose, because of her sunbed use.

Despite this advice she still visits sunbed salons about once a fortnight.

"I do worry about skin cancer because my nan had it, even though she never used a sunbed, but I could not say I will never use a sunbed ever again.

"Being brown is very important to me. It suits me better. I just can't imagine being white," she said.

"I would like to warn other teenagers not to use sunbeds, because of the damage they can cause. I would say use fake tan, because it is cheaper and healthier."

Her mother, Ann, said the fact that sunbeds sessions are so cheap is part of the problem.

"You would give your child a pound to get some food or drink, but Hayley was using it to go on the sunbeds. They are just so cheap."

Dr Niall Wilson, a consultant dermatologist at Liverpool's Broadgreen Hospital, said he sees many young girls who use sunbeds more than they should.

"In addition to skin cancer, they put themselves at risk of premature ageing of the skin and damage to the eyes," he said.

__________________

maleficent

As a very fair skinned person who will burn and never tan, I"m jealous of people who can tan. However, I also know how dangerous tanning can be. I did a bunch of damage to my skin as a stupid teenager, more cases of sun poisoning than I can count, and everytime I get freckle or something odd on my skin, I have to get it checked out.

Tans look good, most people look better with a tan, but getting them the conventional way is very unhealthy. I've seen people die of skin cancer, it's not a pleasant way to go.

This girls mother seems to realize it, and doesnt seem to do anything about it except say that the tanning centers are too cheap...

__________________

cellophanedeity

If she wants to be browned, but also realizes that the sunless tans in bottles are effective, why doesn't she use that instead?

Stupid girl. I have very little sympathy with her on this one.

ngdawg

There was an article this week in the Star Ledger about just this. After several years of finally getting through (so it was thought) that not being tan is fine, they're back to wanting tans.
As a teen, I was intent on being as brown as can be( i'm pretty fair-very pink), so from April to October, would lay outside, usually on the roof of my parents shed. Baby oil was used, both as a protectant and to glean more rays. (Tanning beds didn't exist then, I don't think)
Now? I have enough skin damage that when anyone even mentions trying to get a tan, I show them an arm. Marked, crepey and freckled. Legs are freckled and crepey. I am only lucky that my face, being so incredibly oily, did not suffer the same fate. My sister in law, 3 months younger than I, spends every summer at her beach house-she looks much older than me. My father and brother have both had melanomas removed-I have to have every mole checked every year and have had quite a few suspicious ones removed.
They won't listen. These poor girls will continue to find ways to make themselves "prettier" because of some false standards set up by mass media. And they will kill themselves in the name of perfection.

__________________
Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

Lead543

Heeeeeyy!!! Be nice! *Strokes O-Town poster*

I think no one under age 21 should be allowed to use tanning beds. I asked my doctor about them and he said the majority (not all) of skin damage is done before age 21. And I'm sure there's a bunch of different statistics as far as ages go. But I think we can all agree that a 14 year old having the skin of someone almost double her age...not healthy.

I embrace my odd skin colouration (hurrah for being orange!) I've noticed a lot of blue contacts, blonde dye jobs and fake tans around my old high school. I think it's girls striving to be Barbie, subconciously. It's weird. I get told I look unhealthy for being paler...since when is being white unhealthy? And why is putting vanity over health so popular.

Meditrina

I think it is too risky to tan in a sunbed. My niece is doing it and I worry about her. She does it because all of the "cool" kids do it. I think I'd rather have healthy skin then fit into the crowd (of course this could be why I had hardly any friends when I was younger). It is hard to say what I would have done at that age, knowing what I know now, I would not go tanning.

__________________
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

Grasshopper Green

I tanned for a brief period a few years ago, and I looked fantastic. However, I decided that my future health was worth a lot more than my current situation and stopped; I am now white and darn proud of it.

My mom used to have a very good friend who had several cancerous spots removed from her face before she died; she was a frequent sunbather and she looked it. (She died of a heart attack, not skin cancer) She was 32. She looked at least 40. My mother in law is the same way...she is 48 and looks like she is pushing 60. A lot of people realize that cancer is a risk of sunbathing but I don't think a lot of people take into consideration the effect that it has on the skin (just referring to looks). If tanning beds were taken off the market I wouldn't lose any sleep.

__________________
"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

la petite moi

Melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, too.

I have never gone to a tanning bed, and when I laid out in the sun during the summer for a week or so, I realised it was boring and stupid.

Yeah, I look hellishly white, but I would rather that than die early of a painful disease.

Magpie0001

It pisses me off that anything nowadays can be justified as an "addiction". If this girl wants cancer then its none of my business, she can do what she wants with her body but dont excuse it away by saying she has no control.

__________________
Music is my first love & It will be my last.

Elphaba

I am another one of those pasty white girls that can't just lay in the sun for a tan. But I have been fried many times just spending time in the garden. If skin cancer comes my way, that will be the reason.

My mother (73) can't get enough sun and has been using tanning beds for years. Her skin looks younger than mine.

I need to go talked to her about this.

guthmund

On the one hand, I don't know if I could in all honestly call it an 'addiction.' On the other hand, isn't the central tenet of 'addition' repeatedly doing something even though you know it's bad for you?

Tanning is a big thing around where I live. My sister used to work at a tanning salon keeping the appointments and such. She tells me that after the first hint of Spring they would put together big folders full of tanning schedules. Big blocks of time from 2:00 in the afternoon to 8:00 at night completely filled up for months at a time in advance thanks to this idiocy. I live in a relatively mid sized town (roughly 12,000 people) and we have nearly two dozen salons devoted solely to the almighty tanning booth. I was getting gas this afternoon at a station across from one of them. In the 10 minutes it took to do my business, I seen nearly a dozen women go into one and watched one woman in an SUV actually wait for a parking space to open up.

__________________
No signature. None. Seriously.

MSD

She isn't an addict, she's a fucking idiot who's apparently very comfortable with being a part of self-image-obsessed culture. Her mother is an irresponsible and negligent moron who should step in and stop her kid from giving herself cancer.

If I use anything less than SPF90 when I go outside, I'm going to be in pain every time I lie down or put on clothes for the next few weeks. I'm perfectly fine with beign pale year-round.

I hope this girl gets a horrible burn next time and stops after realizing how much harm she's doing to herself. Sure, it's bad for her skin to get burned, but it's better than doing this shit until she's 30 and looks 80.

Rodney

Saw a news feature on tanning a couple of years ago, and its effects. Most interesting part: they quizzed a bunch of movie and TV actors, and most of them used artificial tanners and stayed out of the sun as much as possible, to preserve their skin. The segment even went on location to some kind of beach shoot in which the "tanned" actresses spent all the time when they weren't shooting under umbrellas. So, the wise pros don't tan. People should be aware of that. They _do_ try a variety of different tanners until they find the one that works best for their skin tone, and that's a little work. But it's worth it for a healthy "tan" that doesn't age the skin.

I live in a big surfing town; we have a lot of young surfing pros and wanna-bees in the 16-30 range, and about every couple of years some well known local surfer -- usually a blonde guy with naturally fair skin -- dies young of skin cancer. As a reaction, some of the local parents are real anti-tanning Nazis, especially if their kids are fair. I can't say I blame them.

JustJess

Well, the girl is an idget, no doubt about it. It's amazing what people go through to feel good about themselves. I live in NYC, and there are some horrifying examples of that everywhere I go.
HOWEVER, I must say that while I do wear sunscreen whenever I'm out in the sun, I don't mind getting a LITTLE bit of sun. I tend to burn and then it turns into tan once, and then generally just tan. I definitely lose that albino-mole look, and I prefer it. I don't want to be BROWN, just a smidgeon off-white, is all.
Is that so wrong??

__________________
My heart knows me better than I know myself, so I'm gonna let it do all the talkin'.

n0nsensical

I prefer women with lighter skin, so its very disturbing to see these girls going out and ruining themselves. Same deal with breast implants, I don't really care about the size, I just like them natural. Do men really want these brown plastic breasted women? Am I the freak here? If not, how did women get the idea that they do?

__________________
"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded." --Abraham Lincoln

Squishor

I really don't even think it looks all that good to be brown unless you were born that way. Brown skin and a pointy nose just looks wrong to me somehow. I remember when I was a little kid I was so mystified by the fact of Caucasians being prejudiced against people with brown skin and yet striving to be tan...??? Why not just appreciate whatever skin type you were born with? Trends are a baffling thing.

My (younger) sister has spent her whole life in the sun and being a tanned beach babe and she's been paying for it for years. People started thinking she was the older one at least 15 years ago. She has those leathery cleavage wrinkles. Of course, I have no cleavage at all, but I'm happy with the fact that if I did, it wouldn't look like an old shoe. People who over-tan seem extremely short-sighted to me, and I've never been able to understand that behavior. Tattoos are kind of the same way, but at least they won't kill you!

BalloonKnots

This whole idea of a healthy tan is an oxymoron if you think about it. How 'healthy' are you when you develop skin cancer at the age of 30?!


Amen to that! That is exactly how I feel.

akito

That girl in the picture on that article is 14?! Jesus... she looks early 20's to me. :-\

greytone

I know someone who has a tanning bed. She had the skin of a 40 year old by the time she graduated from college.

__________________
I was there to see beautiful naked women. So was everybody else. It's a common failing.
Robert A Heinlein in "They Do It With Mirrors"

Nimetic

Anorexia is surely impossible to understand fully for non-anorexics, however I can imagine that biochemical differences and changes occur with chronic undereating - leading to a snowball effect.

Tanning on the other hand.... I've used a tanning bed and it feels sorta pleasant and warming. But addiction? What chemical changes could come about from it that cause a repeat desire. Besides she only does it once a fortnight. That'd not be enough to matter if there's some chemical/pleasure-reward mechanism going on surely.

If I smoke once a fortnight I don't call that an addiction.

Tanorexia has got to be a useful term for those teenagers that overcook/overpaint themselves though. Sure know that I'm going to use the tag - thanks !