Sun-kissed skin is currently in vogue, and bronzed bodies can be seen even during Minnesota’s coldest months.
Peter Freese, owner of Electric Beach and GQ’s Winona locations, sees first hand the numbers of people who venture under tanning lamps.
“Between Electric Beach and GQ, we have approximately 1,000 tanning appointments a week, which is 200 a day. That is during the prime time,” said Freese.
Out of the 1,000 tanning appointments a week, around 90 to-95 percent are college students with a split of 60 percent female and 40 percent male.
Freese and other groups such as the Indoor Tanning Association testify that tanning is completely harmless or better that natural sunlight.
The country's tanning salons are taking on the medical establishment with a campaign to convince Americans that exposure to ultraviolet radiation is good for you.
"Go get a tan. Your body will thank you," the Indoor Tanning Association says in a TV ad that will appear nationally.
The association launched its marketing drive on March 27 with a full-page ad in The New York Times to counter medical research that blames ultraviolet rays from the sun and tanning salons for causing melanoma.
The “addiction” of tanning is a concern of some medical doctors.
“Out of my time here, we have only had a problem with about two people who want to overdo it,” said Freese.
Legally, a person may use tanning lamps once every 24 hours.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, or AAD, the two types of ultraviolet radiation are Ultraviolet A, UVA, and Ultraviolet B, UVB.
UVB has long been associated with sunburn, while UVA has been recognized as a deeper penetrating radiation that causes more damage.
Some scientists have suggested that there may be an association between UVA radiation and melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.
AAD says that sunlamps cause deep skin damage, immune system damage and premature skin aging.
Overexposure to ultraviolet rays is not easily curable.
Melanoma, with a suspected link to UVA exposure, is fatal if not caught early.
Cases of Melanoma in the United States have risen this year to an anticipated 47,700 new cases and 7,700 deaths, and skin cancer alone as risen to an expected 1.3 million newcases.
Questions or comments?
Contact Jessica at
JLLarsen0487@winona.edu