Health Directory

A new approach to keeping folks 'out of the sun'

“When I look back on the things I did when I was younger,” says 49-year-old Kylee Baumle, a former sun goddess whose father and husband were recently diagnosed with skin cancer, “all those hours I spent working on my tan by the pool — I have to wonder, ‘What was I thinking?’”

It’s a good question — and one that many are asking today’s teens and twentysomethings, who, despite repeated warnings about harmful UV rays, continue to flock to beaches and tanning booths.

Melanoma is currently the second most common cancer among 20- to 29-year-old women, yet many continue to spend long hours “working on their tans,” like the now-remorseful Baumle once did. According to the American Academy of Dermatology the incidence of melanoma has increased 690 percent from 1950 to 2001, and the overall mortality rate has increased 165 percent during this same period.

With that kind of disconnect, it’s no surprise researchers and health care professionals are racking their brains trying to figure out what speaks to this seemingly deaf and decidedly looks-conscious crowd.

Oddly enough, the answer may be vanity.

“Sitting in the sun definitely ages you,” says 16-year-old Claire Nelson, who uses sunblock every day, even in not-so-sunny Seattle. “I know I’m going to get wrinkles some day, but I don’t want to end up with wrinkles at age 20 from tanning.”

“Wrinkles are definitely more of a concern than skin cancer,” echoes Alex Doniach, a 23-year-old California native who recently moved to Memphis, Tenn. “When you’re in your 20s, you’re not thinking about the consequences of skin cancer. But I do think about that scary neighbor lady in ‘There’s Something About Mary,’ the one whose skin was completely fried and wrinkled and saggy. It’s like, ‘OK, let’s avoid that.’”

According to Dr. Heike Mahler, a professor of psychology who focuses on cancer prevention at the University of California, San Diego, these thoughts are very much in sync with those of the 2,000 or so college students she’s conducted tanning studies on over the last decade.

Wrinkles scarier than cancer?

“With health-based approaches, people learned about the dangers of sun exposure and UV exposure, but there was very little evidence of actual behavioral change, especially with younger people,” she says. “The threats were probabilistic and in the distant future so they weren’t all that threatening, especially with the strong motivations for tanning behavior. There’s a real cultural pressure to be attractive and a tan is perceived as part of that attractiveness.”

“The bigger impact on public health will depend on us understanding the neurobiological basis for this,” he said.

That is not yet clear, but the research might lead to early treatments, such as promoting exercise to reduce stress or drug therapy for depression.

“It could open up new avenues for strategies to delay the symptoms of this disease,” he said.

Article by: Diane Mapes