Students may have a safe alternative to tanning in ultraviolet rays under the sun and in tanning beds, thanks to sunless tanning products. One expert said the market offers more products than ever and products continue to improve. Still, some local doctors said a tan isn’t necessary to look good or feel healthy.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently concluded that use of tanning beds before age 35 increases the risk of developing melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer.
According to a 2005 survey conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology, 92 percent of those surveyed said they understood getting a tan from the sun is dangerous, but 65 percent said they think they look better when they have a tan. Some 30 million Americans tan using tanning beds each year.
The most effective sunless products contain dihydroxyacetone, a colorless sugar that interacts with dead cells to change skin color, according to the AAD. These products typically last five to seven days after application.
“It doesn’t get any safer than this,” University Health Center physician Tim Van Ert said in an e-mail. He added such products are safe during pregnancy.
However, there are some drawbacks to sunless tanning products.
“They don’t last very long, and if they wear off, they get blotchy,” said Diane Baird, a Eugene dermatologist. “Sometimes they collect in skin folds: knees, elbows. They can have an orange tint. They take a little finesse to put on.”
One California woman wants to get the word out about sunless tanning products and launched www.sunless.com in the late 1990s to practice her HTML skills and share sunless tanning tips.
Clara Pettitt, of Oakland, Calif., said she wanted a tan without exposure to the sun because she suffered second-degree burns from sun exposure.
“If you’re a really pale person, people heckle you,” she said. “You go out in shorts and people will make jokes about how you’re blinding them. People get so self-conscious.”
Pettitt said more products are available now than when she started her Web site and said products have improved and absorb better.
Coppertone released the first sunless tanning product in the 1960s, and similar products have become more popular because ultraviolet rays have been linked to skin cancer.
“When I first began using sunless tanners, it was incredibly difficult to get it on evenly,” Pettitt said. She added a dark pigment would form around her knees and products stained her fingernails.
Pettitt said products have improved, and she recommends “glow products,” lotions that are rubbed into the skin.
“It’s very unlikely you’ll get streaky,” she said.
Pettitt said first-time customers may want to avoid aerosol products because they’re difficult to apply. She added customers should have realistic expectations when using sunless tanning products.
“The color they’re going to get isn’t going to necessarily be worse, but it may be different than their suntan color,” Pettitt said. “It takes effort to get good results,” she said, adding application is the key to a sunless tan.
Jay Park, a Eugene dermatologist, said students should remember sunless tanning products don’t provide ultraviolet protection.
“It doesn’t give them a license to get more sun,” Park said. “Some people think that now that they have a tan, they’re protected from the sun.”
Baird said she would like to see the notion of tanning “go out the window.”
She said she admires “positive role models” that include Nicole Kidman, Gwen Stefani and Scarlett Johansson.
“They don’t have this idea that being tan is attractive and healthy,” she said.
Van Ert called tanning an “unnecessary indulgence.”
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