Spring: The Teen Tanning Season

Spring. The season for growth and new beginnings. A time to turn our backs to a dark, cold winter and look ahead to the warmth and light of summer. Many of us celebrate the season by planting our gardens, spring cleaning, planning summer activities, or digging our light and airy clothes out of storage and replacing them with our winter wear. But for many teenagers across the country, in spring their thoughts turn to the wonders of Spring Break and Prom ... and with their preparation for these important events comes increased use of tanning beds. 

Vanity trumps everything for teens, and they must, at all costs, have a certain darker skin tone to go with their prom gown or their shorts and bikinis. What they are unaware of (or just don't care about) is that each use of tanning beds puts them closer to the pain and fear of melanoma, the deadly kind of skin cancer. So by putting out the welcome mat for this disease and other skin cancers, they are quite possibly shattering all the wonderful memories of these annual teen rituals.

I know one such young lady who frequently used tanning beds to darken her very pale skin ... after all, "everyone" was doing it. It was just the thing to do among teens in the mid-1990s, and sadly that has not changed. The particular teen I am talking about is my daughter Jaime ... and this is one of her prom pictures. Notice the tan? Well, then you can also see what killed her a few years later!

Read more of Jaime's story on my blogs Blowing Out Birthday Candles and With This Ring.

Melanoma facts

Melanoma is the number 1 cause of cancer death in young women between 25 and 29 years of age (Jaime was 29 when she died from melanoma) and number 2 in young adults 15 to 29 years old ... and it can be prevented in many cases by avoiding tanning beds and practicing sun safety. Tanning bed use has been linked with an increased risk of melanoma, especially if it's started before age of 30. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma is projected to kill 9,710 US citizens in 2014, about one person every hour of every day.

Tanning myths

 

Back when Jaime was tanning, the indoor tanning industry was spreading misinformation (aka lies) about the "benefits" of using tanning beds. And sadly, nothing has changed!

• Myth: Tanning beds will give you a "base tan," so you won't get burned by the sun when you hit the slopes or beach for Spring Break.   ***   WRONG!! A "base tan" from tanning beds is a great base for skin cancer and melanoma but doesn't protect your skin. The CDC says, "A tan is the body's response to injury from UV [ultraviolet] rays, showing that damage has been done. A "base tan" only provides a sun protection factor (SPF) of about 3 or less, which does little to protect you from future UV exposure." It's a deadly myth! 


• Myth: I have to get tan to look good.  ***  WRONG!! Embrace your natural skin color. It was given to you for a reason. A "golden glow" has been made socially popular through magazines and reality TV, but in the real world, that tan can kill you, just like it killed my Jaime. And if you do survive, your skin will pay the price if you torture it in a tanning bed, by gifting you with fine lines and wrinkles, sagging skin, and brown spots ... not to mention the possibility of any or all of the three kinds of skin cancer. Your eyes can also be abused by tanning beds because the UV rays can penetrate through your closed eyelids, possibly putting cataracts or cancer of the eye in your not too distant future. And don't forget the other things you can get from a tanning bed besides a tan ... genital or skin warts, rashes, and infections ... all for the same price!


• Myth: I don't need to worry about sun protection on cloudy or rainy days.  ***  WRONG!! UV rays, not temperature, do the damage to your skin. Clouds do not block the rays, they only filter them slightly.


• Myth: Tanning indoors is safer than in sun.  ***  WRONG!! Even though tanning beds operate on a timer, your exposure to the UV rays varies based on age and type of bulbs. Some tanning beds give you up to 12 times the intensity of the noonday sun. But that doesn't mean you can safely lay in the sun for hours without protection. Be sun smart too!


• Myth: Using tanning beds just for Spring Break or Prom isn't enough radiation to hurt you. ***  WRONG!! Just one indoor tanning session increases your chances of developing melanoma by 20%, and each additional session during same year increases your risk by almost another 2%. Also consider that the UV radiation our body absorbs is cumulative ... and we have no pop-up timer to tell us when we have had more than our lifetime limit. That one time tanning bed session might be just the one to push you over your allotment, so if you enjoy playing Russian roulette with your life, go for it!


• Myth: The vitamin D you get from using tanning beds will make you healthier and protect you from cancer and other diseases.   ***  WRONG!! According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, vitamin D is received through exposure to UVB rays, and the bulbs used in tanning beds mainly emit UVA rays. There are better ways to get vitamin D (10 minutes of sunlight, diet, or supplements) than frying in a tanning bed and putting yourself in danger.


• Myth: Tanned skin is healthy skin.   ***  WRONG!! The FDA says, “Although some people think that a tan gives them a ‘healthy’ glow, any tan is a sign of skin damage.”
  
  
  The science is clear; there are no health benefits from tanning beds that can't be obtained more safely and without risk of skin cancer.

The Tanning Truth

Truth: There is no good reason to use tanning beds, but there are lots of reasons not to!

If my little prom princess Jaime were alive, she would tell you that no tan is worth dying for! Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It protects you, and you should protect it in return. Stay out tanning beds ... and practice safe sun by wearing sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses or by seeking shade. Don't be the dead girl with a tan! It's just not that cool!!





 Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)


Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)

Blowing Out Birthday Candles ...

March 16, 2007. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny Spring day. It was my birthday. It was a perfect day for celebration ... but it was to be the worst day of my life. On that date many years before, I had taken my first breath; on that same date 60 years later, my only daughter Jaime would take her last.

The nightmare begins

My baby girl was diagnosed with melanoma when she was 20 years old, after years of searching for the perfect tan with the help of tanning beds. She was a frequent fryer and paid the ultimate price. A mole on her back seemed to be where this cancer wanted to set up shop. That damn mole caused more pain, suffering, and broken hearts than I can find words to describe.

Initially she was determined to be in an early stage of melanoma, and we were told after 3 years that she was cured. NOT! I know now that you are never "cured" of melanoma. If you are lucky, it becomes inactive until something wakes it up at a later date. February 2002 Jaime's cancer awakened (see my blog With This Ring ...), and our nightmare began. She was in the final stage, Stage IV. Her cancer had spread, and there was no stopping it. Jaime faced this challenge with amazing strength and courage and a positive attitude, which she also demanded from those around her ... and always with a smile on her face. She was so determined that she would not die from this horrific disease that we were all convinced that she would indeed beat it. We chased it around her little body for 5 years with surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, every treatment option available ... until ... until March 16, 2007.

Sleep, my little one, sleep

Her last night was a good one, considering. Her brother Ben and I slept by her side at the hospital that night. I guess the word "slept" isn't really the best word choice. We watched her tiny body in the huge hospital bed move up and down gently with each breath she took, like I used to watch all my babies as they slept. She was curled up in a ball, just like she liked to sleep and hadn't been able to for many months because of breathing problems caused by tumors pressing on whatever they were pressing on. We listened to her softly chattering away. We couldn't make out what she was saying, but her sweet child-like tone was assurance that she was enjoying the conversation. And then she would giggle. And that giggle is the last sound I heard her make ...

The end of hope

By the following morning (Friday, March 16), Jaime had drifted into a coma. Her oncologist came to see her in her hospital room as he did every morning and evening. He wasn't on call that weekend, and without giving it much thought, I said, "Well, see you on Monday." He looked at me with the saddest of looks and shook his head no. The air seemed to have been sucked out of the room, and it hit me ... we will not be here on Monday!  I think that is the first time that I really allowed myself to understand that we were at the end. All the treatments, medications, scans and reports, doctor office and hospital visits, clinical trials, barf bags, cases of Ensure, doctors and nurses, new friends made through this journey, old friends lost who didn't understand, a new melanoma vocabulary, the dark sense of humor we had developed to help us cope, all the fear, all the pain, all the tears, all the prayers had lead us to this point. There was no more room for hope ... the hope we had clung to for 9 years; the hope Jaime demanded that we have.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Then my son gently reminded me that it was my birthday. I told Jaime that I would love for her to open her eyes and wish me a Happy Birthday ... but if she couldn't, then the best birthday gift she could give me would be to leave her melanoma-battered body behind and just fly away. And off she flew ...


But Jaime's story doesn't end there. I am not telling you her story to solicit sympathy but to make you aware of the torture that tanning beds and melanoma has caused our family and friends. I am telling you Jaime's story because she can no longer do so ... and it is a story you need to hear. Her story has been featured on local and national TV news, radio, magazines, newspapers, public service announcements (http://t.co/YrV1At9qTD) ... and even in theaters. Almost every lawmaker across the country in any state considering tanning bed legislation has heard her story, along with the FDA and the CDC. Her story is told on Facebook and Twitter and at melanoma walks and events. A scholarship at her alma mater University of North Texas has been started in her name, and her professors tell her story to their young students. Her face has even smiled down from melanoma awareness billboards! Don't count her out because she is not done yet.

On March 16, 2007 ... like blowing out candles on a birthday cake, the light of a young life, my sweet Jaime's life, flickered and was gone. And all our lives have been darker without her laughter, her joy, her courage, her love, and her light. We miss you, Jaime girl, with every beat of our hearts!


 Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)
Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)

A Note from Mom Doesn't Block the Rays

Many state legislatures are currently considering bills to restrict teens from using tanning beds. They got the part right about wanting to ban minors from their use because the increasing popularity of tanning beds is related to the climbing rates of skin cancer and melanoma, the fatal type of skin cancer. Actually from 1970 to 2009, the incidence of melanoma has increased by 800% among young women and 400% among young men, and it continues to rise at around 3.1% a year. However, the legislators seem to be confused about what type of legislation they want ... or perhaps it is how much can they restrict and still get re-elected? 

Five states are determined to protect ALL their kids from the dangers of the excessive UV radiation that comes from tanning beds -- California, Vermont, Texas, Illinois, and Nevada. [Update: As of 2017, this number has grown to 15 states.] Oregon also has an under 18 ban on tanning beds, but it includes a physician's permission exception. [Update: Washington state has same legislation as Oregon in 2017.] Since we know that there are no medical or health benefits from the use of tanning beds, which is not the same as phototherapy, this sends a very confusing message to an already very confused public. But that is a whole other blog! 

Parental consent tanning bills don't work

Much of the legislation being discussed this year includes a parental permission exclusion. And I am here to tell you from painful personal experience that parental consent laws simply do not work ... and they certainly don't prevent melanoma. 

It is, however, logical to think that parental consent bills should be appropriate. A parent should be able to decide and control what activities their children participate in. And until recently, as far as tanning bed use goes, parents have had that responsibility ... and they have failed terribly. 

Currently 28 million people use tanning beds every year [Update: In 2017 that number has risen to 30 million], and 2.3 million of those are teens -- all participating in risky behavior knowing what we know about the relationship between UV radiation and cancer. According to the Center for Disease Control, "A tan does NOT indicate good health. It is a response to injury." And that injury to your skin opens the door to a life of fear and pain.

If parents knew the facts about the dangers of indoor tanning, ZERO kids would be permitted to use them. And unfortunately, that is not the case. In fact, studies have shown that many teens get their start in tanning beds by going with their moms ... some sort of bizarre bonding ritual!



There are laws for minors regarding alcohol and tobacco that don't require or allow a parent to consent. Why should tanning bed use, exposing our children to cancer-causing radiation, be any different? Parents have so many parenting decisions to make that I seriously doubt that they would miss this one.

Even the permission forms that parents are asked to sign before their child can tan,

From skincancer.org

at least the ones I have seen, are problematic. Yes, they do alert parents to the risks to some extent ... but do they state that it could KILL your child?!

 

 

 

 

Indoor tanning industry's web of lies and myths

I'm sure parents hear the warnings from the medical community and melanoma advocates like me, but they also have the indoor tanning industry pulling them in the opposite direction, weaving a web of lies and myths. 

In Texas there are laws against the tanning salons being able to advertise any benefits to tanning bed use other than cosmetic ... but what they tell potential customers is probably a different story. It certainly was years ago when I was faced with the decision-making process of deciding what was right for my daughter Jaime.

Here is some of my testimony before the Texas House and Senate health committees:

          "FACT: Parental consent laws do not work.

Jaime was our princess, our precious baby girl. As a teenager, Jaime was bubbly, outgoing, and popular and wanted to do what all her friends were doing … use tanning beds. I was a busy working mom with 3 teenagers, having a difficult time keeping track of all their activities. It wasn’t until the day Jaime came home from school with a sunburn that I realized she was using tanning beds. Texas had a parental consent law in place at the time, and Jaime had been signing my name to the forms. But that’s not all.

FACT: The indoor tanning industry is misleading customers.

Not knowing whether these tanning beds were safe for her, I went to the tanning salon with her to ask questions. They gave me lots of information, but it was misinformation, which proved to be deadly. They assured me that the beds were safe … because the government won’t allow them if they weren’t. They also told me that with her pale skin, she needed to develop a base tan in the beds to protect her from the sun. There was never a mention of skin cancer … or any risks for that matter. So unfortunately, I bought into their slick marketing and gave them my money … and signed away my child’s life. And although that was 20 years ago, they are still holding on to their false claims."

Rights vs responsibility

The bottom line with parental permission exceptions in teen tan ban bills: A note from mom does not make tanning beds any less dangerous. If we want to protect the children of this country from unnecessary cancer, we need to change our thinking. Perhaps instead of being concerned with our parental rights, we need to thinking about our parental responsibilities. We need to realize that as parents, our role should be to demand that our lawmakers make public health decisions to protect our children based on sound research and medical data -- and not for political reasons. The health and safety of our children should trump everything, including parental rights.


For more information on melanoma and/or on the status of state teen tanning bed restrictions, see www.aimatmelanoma.org


 Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)

http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)
https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)

With this ring ...

February 2nd -- Today my only daughter Jaime should be celebrating her wedding anniversary with the love of her life ... but melanoma had other plans. It stole her dreams, her hopes, her happiness, her future. It is a horrific and evil disease that was an uninvited guest at her wedding, and I HATE that it shared in her most special day!

Jaime was a very organized young woman (not taking after her mom, for sure!), and for 2 years Jaime had meticulously planned out every detail of her wedding. It was to be perfect ... a fairy tale wedding befitting a princess. It started with the date ... 2/2/02. Jaime was into numbers, and this was the date she claimed for her most special day. 

Everything was going according to plan ... except that she left the groom unsupervised at his last haircut before the wedding. When he appeared sporting his much-too-short haircut (and if I recall the story correctly, to make matters worse the hair stylist who did the deed was an ex-girlfriend) ... well, to say Jaime was furious would be an understatement, and the marital bliss almost ended before it had even begun! But love won out and the wedding was back on track.

A couple days before the wedding, she was trying on her wedding gown. I was buttoning her up in the back while admiring her beauty in that gown ... and my heart skipped a beat. I felt a lump in the middle of her back, like a pea under the skin. I didn't want to alarm her, but as calmly as I could, I told her about my discovery and suggested that when she returned from her honeymoon in a couple weeks, she have her oncologist check it out. It was almost time for her annual visit with her surgical oncologist at Dallas Baylor anyway.

You see, Jaime, who had regrettably visited tanning beds frequently in high school and college, had been diagnosed 4 years earlier, when she was 20 years old, with Stage IIA melanoma, an often fatal form of skin cancer. However, it had been found fairly early, and after the initial surgery to remove it from her upper back, it had not reared its ugly head again. Her prognosis was great. Matter of fact, her doctor had declared her "cured" at her 3-year visit ... but that was wishful thinking because melanoma is never cured.

Well, the wedding went off perfectly. Jaime was glowing as she became Mrs. Jaime Regen Rea, and as far as I know, everyone had a great time. But no one else knew what I did ... that it was not only the radiant bride and her daddy walking down that aisle. Melanoma was tagging along as well ... as unwelcome as it was.

Now I have to admit it ... I am a crier. I cry at funerals, weddings, bar mitzvahs, births, graduations, award ceremonies ... and I have even been known to cry when my son scored a goal at a soccer game. Any time my heart is bursting with emotion (either good or bad), my eyes become waterfalls! Jaime's wedding was no exception. 

My tears were contagious, and soon tissue boxes were circulating among the bridesmaids. Even the groom had watering eyes. Theirs were crying tears of joy ... but mine had more meaning than they or anyone could possibly know. My tears were tears of love and pride, and they were falling because I was grateful to be sharing my daughter's happiest of days ... but they were also streaming down my face because I knew that her cancer was back. I had no idea the extent of its return ... but I knew the Black Beast had returned and I was very, very scared!

Turns out, my fears were confirmed, and all those bittersweet tears were just the first of so many more to come ...


Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)


Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)

What Is It Going to Take???

Really ... I was really going to try to go easy on you and not be so prolific with these blogs; however, it is difficult to curb my enthusiasm because so many different topics come to my attention every day that I want to share with you. And yesterday a very important study (International Prevalence of Indoor Tanning) was released in JAMA Dermatology about the use and abuse of tanning beds, and I just couldn't help myself!

When I read that the databases for this research were last accessed on March 16, 2013, I knew it was destined for a blog. March 16 marks the anniversary of my daughter Jaime's death, and unfortunately, I am (along with too many others) the face of reality where tanning beds and melanoma are concerned.

The results of this study are sad ... no, worse than that ... they are devastating. The use of tanning beds is much worse than we had previously thought.

• Over 1 in 3 adults (35%) in the US have used tanning beds in their lifetime; 13% of adults in the US and Canada have used them in the past year. 

And it gets even more heart-breaking.

• The majority of college students in the US (59%) have used them, 43% in the past year. 

But wait ... there's more.

• In Western countries, 1 in 5 (19%) adolescents 18 and younger (17% in US and Canada) have used indoor tanning, with 18% (10% in US) having used them in the past year. 

That's a lot of DNA damage going on right there!

This new study also states the astounding fact that almost a half a million new cases of skin cancer (and more than 10,000 melanoma cases) are attributable to indoor tanning each year in the US and Canada, Europe, and Australia. Or to put it another way ... JAMA Dermatology says that "it is possible that the number of skin cancer cases due to indoor tanning will continue to surpass the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking in coming years." That boggles my mind!

Why is this important, you ask. Very simply, tanning beds cause cancer, cancer that can kill you. Just ask me to tell you Jaime's story! And why should you care? Because at the rates melanoma cases are increasing, you or a loved will be touched by this horrific disease ... and it will not be pretty.

The facts are that the World Health Organization has classified tanning beds and their UV radiation as a Group 1 carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) along with plutonium, arsenic, and tobacco. The risk of melanoma, a too-often fatal form of skin cancer, increases by 75% when tanning beds are first used before the age of 35. Research has shown us that using a tanning bed even once increases the risk of a melanoma diagnosis by 20%, with each additional session adding 2% to that risk. 


And yet, over 1 million people use tanning beds every day, making the $5 billion indoor tanning industry very happy. For some reason, our cries of concern over tanning bed use are falling on deaf ears. Jaime has even been yelling from her grave that a tan isn't worth dying for!!! Yet the tanning salons continue to successfully lure adults and kids alike into their cancerous webs. What more can we do? What will make people stop and listen ... and think? How many more have to die before the light bulb goes on and people recognize that tanning bed use is extremely risky behavior??? There MUST be an answer somewhere out there ...


Read the full report here (http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1818976)

 
Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)

Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)