There is no such thing as a base tan or a “healthy” tan. Around the globe, and especially in the United States, people need to become more aware of the dangers to exposure to ultraviolet light. An alarming increase in skin cancer diagnoses and death rates continue to rise every year, which can be linked to biological, economical, sociological, legal, and ethical factors. The rise in skin cancer must be addressed by local, state, and national policy makers to increase public education and awareness. What’s shocking is that just in the past 30 years, more people will have had some form of skin cancer than all of the other forms of cancer combined [1]! Additionally, it has been said that one in five U.S. adults will develop some form of skin cancer in their lifetime [2]. Furthermore, the American Academy of Dermatology and the Center for Disease Control have categorized skin cancer as an epidemic [3]. Lastly, four out of every five cases of skin cancer is now found to be preventable by sensible behavior [4], which is why it is our duty as healthcare professionals to ensure that proper public policy and educational needs are met. …show more content…
Within the realm of dermatology and particularly skin cancer, I believe that education is one of many solutions that will help curb the general population’s habits to avoiding damage to their skin. Additionally, as someone who used to utilize indoor tanning beds on a regular basis, I believe that education to younger generations is obviously not working and could be better. I think that this is going to be difficult to overcome as the tanning industry has a lot of money and power behind them; however, it is an issue that is going to be affecting more and more of today’s youth if the message doesn’t get