A new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco and Northwestern University has found that young people who use tanning beds experience genetic changes in their skin cells that make their skin appear decades older than their actual age. The findings were published on December 12 in Science Advances.
“We found that tanning bed users in their 30s and 40s had even more mutations than people in the general population who were in their 70s and 80s,” said Bishal Tandukar, PhD, a UCSF postdoctoral scholar in Dermatology and co-first author of the study. “In other words, the skin of tanning bed users appeared decades older at the genetic level.”
The research highlights that these mutations can lead to skin cancer, which is the most common cancer in the United States. Melanoma, although accounting for only about 1% of skin cancers, causes most deaths from this disease. According to data from the American Cancer Society, approximately 11,000 Americans die each year from melanoma, mainly due to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
UV radiation is present both in sunlight and artificial sources such as tanning beds. The use of tanning beds has increased rates of melanoma, particularly among young women who are frequent users of these devices. While several countries have banned tanning beds and the World Health Organization classifies them as a group 1 carcinogen—placing them alongside tobacco smoke and asbestos—they remain legal and widely used in the United States.
For this study, researchers analyzed medical records from over 32,000 dermatology patients regarding their use of tanning beds, history of sunburns, and family history of melanoma. Skin samples were collected from 26 donors for sequencing across 182 cells. Results showed that younger individuals using tanning beds had more mutations than those twice their age who did not use such devices. This was especially evident on lower back areas—parts typically shielded from natural sunlight but exposed during indoor tanning sessions.
“The skin of tanning bed users was riddled with the seeds of cancer — cells with mutations known to lead to melanoma,” said senior author A. Hunter Shain, PhD, associate professor in the UCSF Department of Dermatology.
“We cannot reverse a mutation once it occurs, so it is essential to limit how many mutations accumulate in the first place,” Shain added. “One of the simplest ways to do that is to avoid exposure to artificial UV radiation.”
The study’s authors include researchers from both UCSF and Northwestern University. Funding was provided by organizations such as the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, Department of Defense Melanoma Research Program, and Melanoma Research Alliance.
No conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.
