Sunbeds and Tanning Salons. Your Ticket to Wrinkles and Cancer

The need to obtain a tan for fashion or cosmetic purposes has led to an increasing demand for tanning salons and sun beds. Use of sun beds for tanning continues to rise in popularity, especially among young women. The World Health Organization (WHO), says that there is an anticipated 132,000 cases of malignant melanoma (the most severe form of skin cancer) annually, and an estimated 66,000 deaths from malignant melanoma and other skin cancers. These numbers go on rising: in Norway and Sweden, the annual incidence rate for melanoma is projected to have more than tripled in the last 45 years, while, in the United States, the rate has doubled in the last 30 years. Escalation in the use of tanning beds, combined with the yearning and fashion to have a tan, are believed to be the principal reasons behind this rapid growth in skin cancer.

The UVB lights in a tanning salon emit up to 2-5 times as much UV exposure as natural light, and are a major cause of skin cancer and premature aging. You will hear that their equipment is sometimes safer than the sun because tanning beds emit ultraviolet-A (UVA) rays, the so-called cool rays, rather than the ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays, which are most often implicated in sunburn. It has been established, however, that UVA rays can cause skin cancer as well as UVB rays can. Do not be deceived by claims to the contrary. The essential difference between UVA and UVB rays are that UVA rays are more likely to penetrate deeper into the skin, and are more likely to lead to skin damage such as wrinkling and collagen damage and, perhaps, melanoma.

Remember—while the damage your skin will receive from the use of tanning beds may not appear to be immediate it will contribute to the appearance and condition of your skin as you age!




The Vitamin D Issue

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, a 15 minute walk in the sun every day is optimum. If you reside north of the line linking San Francisco to Philadelphia, chances are you don’t get sufficient vitamin D. This is also true if you don’t get out for a stroll for at least 15 minutes a day. African-Americans and others with dark skin are likely to have much lower levels of vitamin D, due to less formation of the vitamin from action of sunlight on skin. A survey of people admitted to a Boston hospital, for instance, showed that 57% were lacking in vitamin D. Vitamin D helps guarantee that the body absorbs and maintains calcium and phosphorus, both essential for building bone. In addition, lab research indicates that vitamin D may keep cancer cells from growing and dividing.

Some initial studies reveal that insufficient intake of vitamin D is related with an increased risk of fractures, and that vitamin D supplementation may prevent them. It could also prevent falls, an everyday problem that leads to significant disability and death in older people. Additional early studies show an association between low vitamin D intake and increased risks of prostate, breast, colon, and other cancers.



Drugs, Smoking, Alcohol and Your Skin

When it comes to aging of the skin, it’s not Father Time that is public enemy number 1. It is the very active, very vicious little molecule called the free radical. Our cells use oxygen to create energy. In the process, they produce free radicals—unsound oxygen molecules produced during such basic metabolic functions as circulation and digestion. Free radicals are also generated by toxins such as cigarette smoke, drugs and alcohol. In your body, free radicals literally bounce about, attaching themselves to other atoms and molecules, whether they are wanted or not.

Skin does not keep track of your age; it merely reacts to how it is treated, so if you expose it to smoke, drugs and alcohol, the skin will start ‘acting old’. It will lose its glow and its elasticity. Lines will appear or open pores will not go away and it will not matter whether you are 20, 30 or 40 years of age.

Effects:

•Stimulants such as amphetamines are the culprit in various skin disorders. New research findings indicate that people heavily exposed to certain chemicals or substances such as cocaine and amphetamines may be at higher than normal risk for scleroderma.

•Smoking is the 2nd leading cause of skin damage after sun exposure. The nicotine constricts your blood vessels & decreases the flow of oxygen to the skin. Increasing wrinkles is a natural part of the aging process, but smoking successfully accelerates aging and makes the smoker appear years older then they actually are. Premature wrinkles, with dry, grayish skin drawn across sunken cheeks could all be part of the gaunt façade of the constant smoker.

There can be other, more severe, consequences for smokers, including the higher risk of certain types of skin cancer and a thinning of the skin. In 1985, Doctor Douglas Model published an article in the British Medical Journal in which he coined the term, “smoker’s face.” In this article, Doctor Model talked about how roughly half of the long-term smokers studied (smoked ten years or more) came to display the same facial characteristics as a result of the damage instigated by smoking. These characteristics were representative of long-term smokers and could be observed in spite of the age of the smoker, their weight, or the degree of the exposure to the sun. As the chemicals from cigarettes are absorbed into the bloodstream, they constrict the blood vessels, including the tiny capillaries located near the surface of the skin. The amplified carbon monoxide manufactured by smoking diminishes the amount of oxygen that is then circulated to regions of the skin. This equates to less oxygen and nutrients reaching the skin via the constricted blood vessels. Mingled with this is the capacity of direct contact to cigarette smoke to irritate and dry-out skin. In the case of the smoker, their skin’s moisture levels may already be diminished because of the diuretic effect that nicotine has on the body.

•Prescription drugs affect your skin as well. Levels of bilirubin may become elevated can cause jaundice in people using the protease inhibitors atazanavir (Reyataz) and indinavir (Crixivan). A slight yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes is an acknowledged side-effect of atazanavir and indinavir. Most of this takes place, according to research, during the first few weeks of treatment with the drugs. In April of this year (2005), Dutch researchers have associated a group of rheumatoid arthritis drugs to skin problems. Humira (adalimumab), Remicade (infliximab), and Enbrel (etanercept) are cited in the study, which appears in the journal Arthritis Research and Therapy. All of those medications are biologic treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They are a contemporary type

Lose your cool, and the next thing you know, you might break out. “Stress may affect the levels of the male-like hormone called androgen in the body, which activate the sebaceous glands to manufacture more oil, leading to clogged pores and pimples,” says Diane Berson, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, in New York City. In addition, stress also encourages the skin’s nerve endings, causing flare-ups of skin conditions ranging from eczema to psoriasis. Even cold sores may be attributed to too much stress. “Stress deteriorates your immune system enabling the viruses that cause these sores to reactivate,” says Rena Fortier, M.D., a dermatologist with Long Ridge Dermatology, in Stamford, Connecticut.

Here is another reason to cut down on your stress levels. A study from Ohio State University, in Columbus, established that psychological stress can make injuries take longer to heal. During their research, the physicians gave women who were taking care of chronically sick relatives and women in a control group small skin wounds on their forearms. In spite of receiving the exact same treatment, the caregivers’ wounds took an average of nine days longer to heal. Stress is like a termite that undermines a structure by working to undermine the body, mind and emotions. The results, however, can become all too obvious by showing up on your skin. Whereas dermatologists are, to this day, considering whether stress actually causes skin disorders, they seem to be in agreement that stress undeniably triggers or aggravates skin conditions such as acne, hives, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, warts, cold sores and blisters. Just remember that your body has its own way of dealing with stress. During periods of, “fight-or-flight,” the flow of blood (and nutrients) is directed to the areas of the body thought to be important for responding to the stress and taken away from areas considered non-essential, such as

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8