Last week, a nurse educator at a local high school asked me to speak to her class. The prom was quickly approaching and many of her students had already been to tanning beds numerous times. The nurse educator was very concerned about her students’ behaviors.
There were 15 students in the class – all girls. I expected to find out that two or three of these students had been to a tanning salon, but was shocked to learn that every single student in that health careers course with the exception of one (an olive-skinned Hispanic girl) had been actively tanning.
Based on my experiences that afternoon, I was thankful that I didn’t have any teenaged girls at home. While the teachers in the room were very interested in the topic and had a range of questions for me, the students could not have cared less about the advice of a dermatologist. They certainly didn’t care about any advice I might have for them regarding their tanning behaviors. These were girls who had perfected the “What-you’re-saying-means-nothing- to-me” look, and that look was on nearly all their red and burned faces that afternoon.
That’s right, red and burned faces. These kids’ perceptions of tanning were, at best, misguided, and, at worst, delusional. Not one student said they burned when they tanned. But every one of those “tanners” had a burned face at that very moment.
Living in the Moment
These were students in a health careers class. These were students who had done internships at nursing homes, who knew intimately the effects of skin cancer on 80 year olds. These were students who were horrified by what they had seen in those nursing homes. But, when it comes to teenagers, risks that are 20 years or more down the road seem so far in the future that they are essentially meaningless.
What had meaning for these students, what motivated them to tan were the prom, what their friends said about their appearances, self-perception, and their personal and cultural concepts of beauty. On top of that, half the students in the class noted that tanning was a pleasant, relaxing experience, an observation further supported by a recent study that suggests this relaxation effect may be mediated by endorphins.
What chance do we have of getting teenagers such as these girls to give up this risky practice? Probably not much of one.
We dermatologists see the bad side of tanning and see no benefit. These kids see the benefit and see no bad side, at least not in the near future. We can talk to them about these risks until we’re blue in the face, but it will likely have little impact on what they do.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they tanned more in response to my efforts, just to spite me.
Changing a Culture
If our cultural norms about beauty, at least as they are defined for Caucasians, change to favor a more fair complexion, then maybe we’ll have more successes. But that’s a tall order to fill and that kind of major societal change won’t come from our efforts alone. We’ll need the support of the beauty magazines, the cosmetic companies and that most powerful creator of culture on this continent — the Hollywood über-machine.
Until that day comes, I’m resigned to people tanning, particularly teenage girls.
But the truth is that it won’t bother me so much if these kids keep tanning, as long as we can keep them from
smoking.
Last week, a nurse educator at a local high school asked me to speak to her class. The prom was quickly approaching and many of her students had already been to tanning beds numerous times. The nurse educator was very concerned about her students’ behaviors.
There were 15 students in the class – all girls. I expected to find out that two or three of these students had been to a tanning salon, but was shocked to learn that every single student in that health careers course with the exception of one (an olive-skinned Hispanic girl) had been actively tanning.
Based on my experiences that afternoon, I was thankful that I didn’t have any teenaged girls at home. While the teachers in the room were very interested in the topic and had a range of questions for me, the students could not have cared less about the advice of a dermatologist. They certainly didn’t care about any advice I might have for them regarding their tanning behaviors. These were girls who had perfected the “What-you’re-saying-means-nothing- to-me” look, and that look was on nearly all their red and burned faces that afternoon.
That’s right, red and burned faces. These kids’ perceptions of tanning were, at best, misguided, and, at worst, delusional. Not one student said they burned when they tanned. But every one of those “tanners” had a burned face at that very moment.
Living in the Moment
These were students in a health careers class. These were students who had done internships at nursing homes, who knew intimately the effects of skin cancer on 80 year olds. These were students who were horrified by what they had seen in those nursing homes. But, when it comes to teenagers, risks that are 20 years or more down the road seem so far in the future that they are essentially meaningless.
What had meaning for these students, what motivated them to tan were the prom, what their friends said about their appearances, self-perception, and their personal and cultural concepts of beauty. On top of that, half the students in the class noted that tanning was a pleasant, relaxing experience, an observation further supported by a recent study that suggests this relaxation effect may be mediated by endorphins.
What chance do we have of getting teenagers such as these girls to give up this risky practice? Probably not much of one.
We dermatologists see the bad side of tanning and see no benefit. These kids see the benefit and see no bad side, at least not in the near future. We can talk to them about these risks until we’re blue in the face, but it will likely have little impact on what they do.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they tanned more in response to my efforts, just to spite me.
Changing a Culture
If our cultural norms about beauty, at least as they are defined for Caucasians, change to favor a more fair complexion, then maybe we’ll have more successes. But that’s a tall order to fill and that kind of major societal change won’t come from our efforts alone. We’ll need the support of the beauty magazines, the cosmetic companies and that most powerful creator of culture on this continent — the Hollywood über-machine.
Until that day comes, I’m resigned to people tanning, particularly teenage girls.
But the truth is that it won’t bother me so much if these kids keep tanning, as long as we can keep them from
smoking.
Last week, a nurse educator at a local high school asked me to speak to her class. The prom was quickly approaching and many of her students had already been to tanning beds numerous times. The nurse educator was very concerned about her students’ behaviors.
There were 15 students in the class – all girls. I expected to find out that two or three of these students had been to a tanning salon, but was shocked to learn that every single student in that health careers course with the exception of one (an olive-skinned Hispanic girl) had been actively tanning.
Based on my experiences that afternoon, I was thankful that I didn’t have any teenaged girls at home. While the teachers in the room were very interested in the topic and had a range of questions for me, the students could not have cared less about the advice of a dermatologist. They certainly didn’t care about any advice I might have for them regarding their tanning behaviors. These were girls who had perfected the “What-you’re-saying-means-nothing- to-me” look, and that look was on nearly all their red and burned faces that afternoon.
That’s right, red and burned faces. These kids’ perceptions of tanning were, at best, misguided, and, at worst, delusional. Not one student said they burned when they tanned. But every one of those “tanners” had a burned face at that very moment.
Living in the Moment
These were students in a health careers class. These were students who had done internships at nursing homes, who knew intimately the effects of skin cancer on 80 year olds. These were students who were horrified by what they had seen in those nursing homes. But, when it comes to teenagers, risks that are 20 years or more down the road seem so far in the future that they are essentially meaningless.
What had meaning for these students, what motivated them to tan were the prom, what their friends said about their appearances, self-perception, and their personal and cultural concepts of beauty. On top of that, half the students in the class noted that tanning was a pleasant, relaxing experience, an observation further supported by a recent study that suggests this relaxation effect may be mediated by endorphins.
What chance do we have of getting teenagers such as these girls to give up this risky practice? Probably not much of one.
We dermatologists see the bad side of tanning and see no benefit. These kids see the benefit and see no bad side, at least not in the near future. We can talk to them about these risks until we’re blue in the face, but it will likely have little impact on what they do.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they tanned more in response to my efforts, just to spite me.
Changing a Culture
If our cultural norms about beauty, at least as they are defined for Caucasians, change to favor a more fair complexion, then maybe we’ll have more successes. But that’s a tall order to fill and that kind of major societal change won’t come from our efforts alone. We’ll need the support of the beauty magazines, the cosmetic companies and that most powerful creator of culture on this continent — the Hollywood über-machine.
Until that day comes, I’m resigned to people tanning, particularly teenage girls.
But the truth is that it won’t bother me so much if these kids keep tanning, as long as we can keep them from
smoking.
