With winter right around the corner, some of you might be thinking about taking a trip to your local tanning bed. But be warned, a study out this week finds these devices can be especially harmful to your skin, even beyond natural Sun exposure.

Scientists at Northwestern University and the University of California, San Francisco, examined the medical records of tanning bed users. These users not only had a higher risk of melanoma compared to non-users, they also tended to have more cancer and cancer-related mutations in parts of the body not typically touched by the Sun.

“To me, the evidence is clear. Tanning beds represent a uniquely dangerous exposure when it comes to skin cancer,” study researcher Alan Hunter Shain, a cancer biologist at UCSF, told Gizmodo.

A unique risk

UV (ultravi

See Full Page