Home tanning beds: convenient but dangerous, health experts say

As a teen, Casie VanderLind had a winter after-school routine: She would work out, go to cheerleading practice, and, two to four times a week, head home to use the tanning bed in her family’s basement.

“In my eyes at that time, it was part of a healthy lifestyle, says VanderLind, now a 28-year-old small business owner in Columbus, Ohio.  “We just weren’t aware of how bad it was for you.”

VanderLind remembered those afternoons all too well when, at 23, she was diagnosed with melanoma — a potentially life-threatening skin cancer that research now firmly links with both indoor and outdoor tanning. VanderLind, who needed surgery and chemotherapy, says her family got rid of their tanning bed shortly after her diagnosis.

But unknown numbers of people continue to use tanning beds in private homes. And some health experts worry home tanners may face even greater risks than salon tanners.

“This is a radiation-emitting device,” says Sherry Pagoto, a professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts. “And radiation can be a very dangerous thing.”

The Federal Trade Commission highlighted the danger in announcing recent refunds of $2.59 million to 1,367 consumers who bought home tanning beds from alternative medicine promoter Joseph Mercola. Mercola agreed to pay the refunds and leave the tanning bed business after the FTC said his companies made “false and unsupported claims that their indoor tanning systems are safe, that they don’t increase the risk of skin cancer, including melanoma, and that they can reduce wrinkles.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Surgeon General say that the ultraviolet light from indoor tanning devices can cause skin cancer, wrinkles, eye damage and immune suppression.

But consumers still can buy new tanning beds at manufacturers’ websites and on Amazon, at prices ranging from about $1,200 to $4,000. Used beds can be found at much lower prices on sites such as Craigslist and eBay.

Not much research has been done on indoor home tanning, but in 2016, Pagoto and her colleagues published a survey that shed some light on the practice. They found that 27% of adults who have ever tanned indoors have tanned in private homes, and that regular home tanners tan more often than others. Home tanners also show more signs of “tanning addiction,” meaning “they feel highly compelled to tan” Pagoto says.

Many also share or sell access to their tanning beds, Pagoto says. “One person told me they have tanning parties. Their high school daughter will have friends over and each of them take a turn in the tanning bed. Another person had a tanning bed in their garage, and would let people come over, put money in their mailbox and use it.”

Pagoto would like to see more restrictions on salon tanning, including a nationwide ban for minors, which has been proposed but not finalized by the FDA.  But she says, “at least tanning salons are required to have their beds inspected,” something home tanners rarely do.

“If you bring one of these device into your home, you basically have no restrictions,” says Tim Turnham, past executive director of the non-profit Melanoma Research Foundation. “You don’t have someone telling you when to stop.”

And if you buy a used bed online, “you don’t know what you are getting,” says New York City dermatologist Deborah Sarnoff.  She is president of The Skin Cancer Foundation, a non-profit group that gets funding from sunscreen makers.

Consumers should buy new and used beds only from manufacturers or “reputable dealers,” says John Overstreet, executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, a group representing tanning bed manufacturers, distributors and salons.

Beds sold for home use must come with the same warning labels and instructions that come with commercial beds, Overstreet says. (One FDA-mandated warning label says the beds are not for use by minors). Professional sellers also can answer questions on use and service, he says.

But it is better for consumers to come to salons, where staffers teach “the golden rule of smart tanning, which is “don’t ever get sunburned,” says Joseph Levy, scientific adviser to the American Suntanning Association, which represents salon owners. He says those hoping to further regulate or shut down salons are “risking driving people to home use, apartments and gyms,” where burning might be more likely.

Sarnoff says tanning, at home or in a salon, inside or outside “is all bad” and that avoiding sunburn does not make it safe.

Many consumers may be getting that message. Indoor tanning is in decline, according to the CDC. Overstreet says sales of home units are falling. And Levy’s group says more than 10,000 of 18,000 tanning salons operating in 2010 have closed. The group blames a 10% federal “tanning tax” imposed on salon fees as part of the Affordable Care Act, but health advocates cite other factors, including changing consumer attitudes.

“I do believe that we are seeing signs of a changing culture about tanning,” Turnham says.

If you do decide to use a tanning bed, the FDA says you should know: 

►Failure to wear protective eye goggles can lead to short- and long-term eye injury.

►Long exposures can lead to burning, which you might not notice until many hours later.

►People with skin that burns easily and does not tan should never use indoor tanning devices