Tanning can cause skin cancer, such as melanoma (the deadliest type of skin cancer), basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. It can also cause cataracts and eye cancers (ocular melanoma).

Tanning can cause permanent structural damage to the skin, including wrinkling, age spots, and loss of elasticity.

Radiation from just 10 indoor tanning sessions in two weeks can suppress a person’s cancer-fighting immune system.

A base tan does not protect skin from damage. In fact, people who base tan are more likely to report getting sunburned.

Despite decades of public health efforts to educate the public on the importance of protection from UV radiation, over 30 million people tan indoors a year in the United States. Approximately 71% of tanning salon patrons is girls and women aged 16–29.

Even though vitamin D is important, the safest way to receive enough vitamin D is through diet rather than from sun exposure.

Just in the United States, 419,254 cases of skin cancers can be attributed to tanning beds. Out of this number, 6,199 are melanoma cases.

In California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Texas, and Vermont, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to use an indoor tanning bed. In Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York, minors under the age of 17 are not allowed to use tanning devices.

Brazil and New South Wales in Australia have banned indoor tanning.

In addition to cancer risks, frequent and intentional exposure to UV light can lead to an addiction to tanning, a condition colloquially known as “tanorexia.”

Sunless tanning is a safer alternative than sunbathing. The active ingredient in most sunless tanning products is the color additive dihydroxyacetone, which reacts with dead cells in the skin’s surface to temporarily darken the skin.

Sunless tanning pills, which contain the color additive canthaxanthin, are unsafe. Large amounts of these pills can turn a person’s skin orange, and cause liver damage and impaired vision.

Both outdoor and indoor tanning are dangerous. Any tan is the body’s response to injury from UV rays and is a sign of underlying DNA damage to skin cells.