Dangers of Artificial Tanning

Heading to a tanning bed is just as dangerous as tanning outdoors. Keep your skin healthy and natural by avoiding unprotected sun exposure and indoor tanning.

Tanning beds release dangerously high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause premature aging of the skin and increase risk for skin cancer. Short-term indoor tanning can cause red, itchy, dry skin. Long-term indoor tanning can cause sagging, wrinkled skin. Tanning beds can also burn your skin and eyes and damage your immune system.

What About Tanning Pills and Other Tanning Products?

Several products that claim to give a tan without UV radiation carry safety risks, too.

These include so-called "tanning pills" containing carotenoid color additives derived from substances similar to beta-carotene, the substance that gives carrots their orange color. The additives are distributed throughout the body, especially the skin, making it orange. Although the FDA has approved some of these additives for coloring food, it has not approved them for use in tanning agents. And, at the high levels that are consumed in tanning pills, they may be harmful.

The main ingredient in sunless tanning pills, canthaxanthin, can deposit in the eyes as crystals, which may cause injury and impaired vision. There also has been one reported case of a woman who died from aplastic anemia, which her doctor attributed to her use of tanning pills.

Tanning accelerators, such as those formulated with the amino acid tyrosine or tyrosine derivatives, are ineffective and also may be dangerous. Marketers promote these products as substances that stimulate the body's own tanning process, although evidence suggests they don't work. The FDA considers them unapproved new drugs that have not been proven safe and effective.

Two other sunless tanning products, bronzers and extenders, are considered cosmetics for external use and are not harmful. Bronzers, made from color additives approved by FDA for cosmetic use, stain the skin when applied and can be washed off with soap and water. Extenders, when applied to the skin, interact with protein on the surface of the skin to produce color. The color tends to wear off after a few days. The only color additive approved for extenders is dihydroxyacetone.

Although they give skin a golden color, these products do not offer protection from the damaging effects of UV radiation. Also, the chemicals in bronzers may react differently on various areas of your body, producing a tan of many shades.