Pediatrics Association Calling For Ban On Teen Use
LAS VEGAS — Although more than 30 states regulate indoor tanning by minors, the American Academy of Pediatrics is warning teenagers to avoid tanning beds altogether.
Tanning salon owner Roy Coronado said he doesn’t allow many teens as customers, and the ones he does allow, he limits their time in the sun booth.
Ashley Ruccia, a high schooler who works at Coronodo’s tanning salon, said she tans a few times a month but knows of other teens who tan far more frequently than she does.
“I know some girls who do it, but not so much until prom, homecoming, the dances come around,” she said.
But skin cancer survivor Stacey Escalante said she loved the sun and would tan indoors and out for hours until her diagnosis of stage three melanoma.
“I was a sun worshiper,” she said. “Then when I moved here, it was too hot to lie out, so I went to the tanning beds regularly.”
Six years later, Escalante is cancer-free, but wishes she had taken better care of her skin during her teen and young adult years. She agrees with the pediatrics academy that tanning salons should be more strictly regulated.
“What I was doing at 16 affected me at 34,” she said.
Although dermatologists may disagree, Coronado said that tanning in moderation can be healthy.
“People come in for psoriasis, eczema, arthritis (and) nerves that are bothering them,” he said.
Click Here To See the Video on FOX5 Vegas
