The Dangers of Tanning Salons

The Dangers of Tanning Salons

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Tanning salons can be seemingly useful in many circumstances, especially to those who don’t live in sunny states like Florida. If you live in New York and want to look a bit tanner for your wedding in November, you can disregard the chilly temperatures and head to the tanning salon. Unfortunately, the more you visit the tanning salon, the higher your risk of developing skin cancer. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, you’re 59% more likely to develop melanoma if you use tanning beds than you’d be if you didn’t.

The FDA will mandate that future tanning beds contain a warning that nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to use them. This move by the FDA, the government agency that has jurisdiction over tanning salons, coincides with continuing revelations of the fact that tanning salons are detrimental to the health of people who use them.

To be sure, the fact that tanning beds are hazardous to one’s health is not new information. We’ve known for years that the artificial tans created by overexposure to dangerous rays emitted by sunlamps can cause serious harm (including and especially cancer). Roughly 13,000 people die each year because of skin cancer. Nevertheless, as proms and Sweet 16’s continue to dominate the priority list of young people across America, teenagers have continued to flock to tanning salons to ensure that they look like they just walked off a tropical beach.

This is unfortunate for a variety of reasons, especially considering that people under 18 (along with those with a family history of melanoma) are most at risk for developing skin cancer in the first place.

Our experienced team of personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg represent clients who have suffered injuries due to the negligence of others; frequently, we handle cases in which a client has incurred an injury or illness due to the usage of a product such as a tanning bed. Just as individuals stricken with lung cancer developed from smoking cigarettes have legal claims against the manufacturers of cigarette companies, people afflicted with melanoma due to the use of tanning beds have a legal claim to make against the manufacturers of those tanning beds.

As the summer season really begins to set in, our attorneys want to share with you some tips on how to mitigate the chances of developing skin cancer.

  • Avoid tanning salons!
  • Apply an ample amount of sunscreen to your entire body before going out in the sun. Reapply the sunscreen every 1.5 hours (or after taking a dip in the water or getting covered in sand, etc.)
  • Cover-up with clothing, including sunglasses and/or a (forward-facing!) baseball cap.
  • Schedule a dermatologist appointment at least once a year to check for unusual skin spots that might be an early indication of skin cancer.
  • When you begin to tan, head inside! Don’t stick around until you’ve turned red, because at that point, you’re already burned.

If you’ve been injured in a tanning salon due to the recklessness or negligence of another, reach out to our experienced personal injury lawyers. To schedule a free consultation, give us a call at 561-266-9191 or e-mail us at daronberg@build.simple.biz.

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