Tanning Beds

Dangers of Indoor Tanning “CANCER” a six lettered word that carries so much meaning to my family. On Tuesday, May 28, 2011 I arrived home from a long day at school. I could feel it in the air that something was different. Both of my parents displayed long, sad faces. As soon as my mother asked “can I speak to you alone?” I realized that something was definitely wrong. The words that escaped her mouth is something that I would never imagined hearing from my 48 year old mom. She explained that she went to the doctors office to have a spot on her nose examined. After the doctor received the pathology report, he stated that my mother had basal cell carcinoma, and that surgery was required. As a young 16 year old, I was terrified. My mom had skin cancer. Thankfully, after many procedures, and large excisions from the tip of her nose, the cancer was finally removed. With my mother growing up in the California sun in the 70’s, the importance of skin protection and sunscreen was not emphasized. “The darker the better” was a popular fad throughout this time. My mom used to lather her body with baby oil and lay out in the burning sun. I am sure she was not thinking at the time that the sun’s exposure would cause such a horrible diagnosis in the future. Now, my younger brother and I will be severely punished if we leave the house without applying sunscreen. Tanned skin should not be a fashion statement, because it will only cause negative effects in the future, such as skin cancer. As early as the Renaissance and Elizabethan eras, women with fair skin were considered to be more attractive than women with tanned skin. Fair-skinned women were those who were upper class and spent most of their time indoors. Dark skinned women were associated with being field workers. Women would apply chalk to their faces to make them appear like porcelain. However, with the turn of the Industrial Revolution the trend for whiteness halted. With the working class now moving from the farm to