Tanning bed use has long been linked to an increased risk of skin cancer, but new research shows that young users may experience genetic aging in their skin much earlier than previously understood. Researchers from UC San Francisco and Northwestern University have published a study in Science Advances indicating that individuals in their 30s and 40s who use tanning beds have more mutations in their skin cells than people in the general population who are decades older.
"We found that tanning bed users in their 30s and 40s had even more mutations than people in the general population who were in their 70s and 80s," said Bishal Tandukar, PhD, a UCSF postdoctoral scholar in Dermatology and co-first author of the study. "In other words, the skin of tanning bed users appeared decades older at the genetic level."
The accumulation of these mutations is significant because they can lead to skin cancer, which remains the most common cancer diagnosed in the United States. Melanoma, while accounting for about one percent of all skin cancers, causes most deaths related to the disease. Each year, approximately 11,000 Americans die from melanoma, with ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure being a primary factor.
UV radiation is present both naturally through sunlight and artificially via devices like tanning beds. The popularity of indoor tanning has paralleled rising melanoma rates over recent years, particularly among young women—the main demographic using tanning beds. Some countries have implemented bans on tanning beds due to health concerns. The World Health Organization classifies them as a group 1 carcinogen alongside tobacco smoke and asbestos; however, they remain legal and widely used within the United States.
For this study, researchers analyzed medical records from over 32,000 dermatology patients, considering factors such as tanning bed usage history, sunburn incidents, and family history of melanoma. Additionally, they sequenced cells from skin samples provided by 26 donors.
Their findings showed that younger individuals who used tanning beds had higher numbers of mutations—especially on areas like the lower back which are less likely to be damaged by natural sunlight but often exposed during indoor tanning sessions.
"The skin of tanning bed users was riddled with the seeds of cancer - cells with mutations known to lead to melanoma," said senior author A. Hunter Shain, PhD, associate professor at UCSF’s Department of Dermatology.
"We cannot reverse a mutation once it occurs, so it is essential to limit how many mutations accumulate in the first place," added Shain. "One of the simplest ways to do that is to avoid exposure to artificial UV radiation."
