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10-Year-Old Girl Burned by Tanning Bed
Filed under: In The News
A 10-year-old Welsh girl spent 16 minutes in a coin-operated tanning bed -- and wound up with burns over 70% of her body. Kelly Thompson has been advised to stay out of the sun for the next ten years because the burns have increased her risk of skin cancer substantially. Doctors also told her that if she had spent two more minutes in the tanning booth, she would have required skin grafts.
In some ways, Kelly's story is an anomaly: She was tanning in a coin-operated sunbed, rather than in a tanning salon. The unmanned tanning beds are not approved for use in the US, and in the UK they are not approved for anyone under age 16. The tanning booth Kelly was in had a sign warning that children under 16 should not tan, but since the coin-operated tanning beds are unsupervised, there was no one there to stop Kelly from paying up and climbing in.
Kelly's mother, Sharon Hannaford, 34, was horrified by her daughter's burns, and by the fact that she was able to use the tanning bed alone: "She was under age but there was no staff there to stop her using it and no one to give advice on using these potentially dangerous machines." She wants to see the unsupervised tanning beds banned.
Coin operated tanning beds are not available in the United States, and age regulations for tanning vary from state to state, but Kelly's mother has a point: Teens and tweens need guidance when it comes to tanning. In the US, 17 states are currently considering legislation to restrict tanning by minors; some states are looking at banning anyone under the age of 18 from tanning salons. The reason: Tanning beds have been linked to a rise in malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
Tanning beds work by exposing the skin to ultraviolet rays, which stimulate the body to produce melanin to protect itself from burning. But UV rays also damage the skin at the cellular level, and for teens, the risk of harm is especially high because skin cells are already dividing at a higher rate than during adulthood. And a getting a tan isn't worth running the risk of skin cancer.
Does your teen -- or tween -- go to a tanning salon? Do you encourage this, or are you trying to talk her out of it?
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In some ways, Kelly's story is an anomaly: She was tanning in a coin-operated sunbed, rather than in a tanning salon. The unmanned tanning beds are not approved for use in the US, and in the UK they are not approved for anyone under age 16. The tanning booth Kelly was in had a sign warning that children under 16 should not tan, but since the coin-operated tanning beds are unsupervised, there was no one there to stop Kelly from paying up and climbing in.
Kelly's mother, Sharon Hannaford, 34, was horrified by her daughter's burns, and by the fact that she was able to use the tanning bed alone: "She was under age but there was no staff there to stop her using it and no one to give advice on using these potentially dangerous machines." She wants to see the unsupervised tanning beds banned.
Coin operated tanning beds are not available in the United States, and age regulations for tanning vary from state to state, but Kelly's mother has a point: Teens and tweens need guidance when it comes to tanning. In the US, 17 states are currently considering legislation to restrict tanning by minors; some states are looking at banning anyone under the age of 18 from tanning salons. The reason: Tanning beds have been linked to a rise in malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
Tanning beds work by exposing the skin to ultraviolet rays, which stimulate the body to produce melanin to protect itself from burning. But UV rays also damage the skin at the cellular level, and for teens, the risk of harm is especially high because skin cells are already dividing at a higher rate than during adulthood. And a getting a tan isn't worth running the risk of skin cancer.
Does your teen -- or tween -- go to a tanning salon? Do you encourage this, or are you trying to talk her out of it?
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
6-15-2009 @ 9:59PM
Sarah said...First off, I am a teen. I am naturally dark, because my parents are dark.. (I am Greek). I strongly disagree with some commenters saying "brown skin is damaged skin", because that is not always true... I am an example.
Anyways, during the winter, my tan fades naturally. I never get pale though. A few years back in the winter, I decided to try out tanning in a salon with my mom for the first time. They make you fill out a sheet describing your apperence (dark or light) and make you fill out your age. I was surprised to see that most salons don't make you give proof of your age, like a mature looking child could walk right in and buy a package! Also, if you have dark physical features, then they recommend a longer time in the bed, but it's only like a few minutes more then all light features.. sounds strange, right?
So, I did not particularly enjoy tanning, mainly because it was hot, uncomfortable, didn't effect the darkness of my skin much, and was a waste of money.
I don't understand why people tan in the first place. Being in the sun outside tans you in a natural and less danderous (I think) enviorment...
and there is no age requirement to go outside.
I just think parents should be a little bit more careful with their children and their sun exposure.
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6-02-2010 @ 4:34AM
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7-08-2010 @ 3:12PM
susy said...This is a very sore subject for me. I have an 11 year old daughter who tans frequently. Please keep in mind she is my step daughter and I am totally against it. Her father and I are angry and we have talked to her on many occasions, but it does not stop her. Her mom owns a tanning salon and thinks she knows what she is doing. Talking to the mother only creates a fight and gets us no where.
Well she came over to our house with a burn from tanning the other day and I am pissed. She was in there for 12 minutes and when she came to our house she was changing when I saw it. She is naturally dark and now she is in their tanning to get even darker. On top of getting her fake nails done every two weeks on our dime, shaving her legs and talking on her cell phone with her boyfriend for hours, she is tanning. Her mom is creating a monster and I don't know how to stop it. Fine waste our child support on fake nails I can handle that, but this woman is stupid and could care less about the damage she is doing to her child. What do I do? I have been trying to find some literature to be sent to her, but have not found anything. Any ideas please let me know.
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