Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: LIFE

Media Credit: Whitney Buster As students plan to travel this spring break, many will begin to tan in order to rid themselves of their pasty, white winter color.

By
Contributing Writer
Kelly Lynn, a 29-year-old Frisco hairstylist, said she spent her childhood outdoors. She was diagnosed with melanoma at the age of 19.
As spring break approaches and college students contemplate their migration south of the border for spring break, many are revving up the tanning beds in hopes of achieving the perfect tan.
"Since I'm going to Mexico over break, all I can think about is getting off the plane and being the palest girl on the beach," Ponder junior Megan Kelley said. "I am aware of the risks of tanning excessively, but it'll all be worth it if I can look my best on the beach."
Tanners' skin may have that "healthy glow," but new research in the International Journal of Cancer concluded excessive exposure to the sun's UV rays and use of tanning beds leads to premature skin aging and puts tanners at risk for melanoma, the most serious and deadly, form of skin cancer.
Formerly a rare condition, melanoma has become the fifth most common cancer in the United States and has a high mortality rate when left untreated. According to the journal, many doctors attribute this jump in cases to people's obsession with the perfect tan.
"Through high school, I'd spend my summers laying out with my girlfriends every day and I frequented the tanning beds for years," Lynn said. "The sad thing was, the only reason I made an appointment with my dermatologist was because I saw a really ugly mole on my stomach and I was terrified that someone would see it. I never gave a thought that it could be cancer."
Lynn said she postponed scheduling an appointment with a dermatologist for three months because she had no insurance but was diagnosed with melanoma and promptly had the mole removed.
Melanoma is a tumor of melanocytes, which are the pigment-producing cells of the body and can be identified by a new growth or changes in an existing mole.
These growths often have a black or blue area, and the borders are irregular and asymmetric. Often these growths grow in diameter in a short time.
According to the journal, fair-skinned people are more prone to melanomas than those with darker complexions, and people who have had blistering sunburns during childhood or adolescence have an increased probability of developing melanoma in later years.

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