The warmer weather is here, and more people are looking to get that summer glow
MARQUETTE -- For decades, bronzed skin has been in. And Americans are spending more time outside and inside to get it. But is there a difference between what you can get in a tanning bed and what you get outside? To put it simply...no.
"Our tanning beds have the same broad spectrum that are found outside by our natural sunlight, so there is UVA and UVB as regulated by state law," says Curtis Hewitt, Utopia Tanning.
But if it is the same, why are people paying to get something they could have for free during the summer months?
"It's a lot quicker coming here; I still lay out, but you get tan quicker. It's a lot easier," says indoor tanner Jackie Swanson.
One Marquette dermatologist we spoke with says tanning beds contain more UVA rays than UVB rays.
UVA rays are shorter and penetrate the skin more deeply.
"The shorter it is, the more intense it is, the more energy there is in the electro-magnetic wave so the rays are even shorter," says Dr. Milton Soderberg, a dermatologist.
Soderberg adds that the problem with tanning is that for many, it's become a habit. Young people, in particular, sometimes overdo it both inside and outside...and it can be deadly. The skin cancer foundation states that 65 percent of melanoma cases are from ultra-violet radiation.
"We dermatologists say that the only healthy tan is not the one you get outside naturally or the one with the tanning booth but the one you get from your cosmetic company--the wipe, that's the only healthy one," Soderberg says.
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