How to break your kid's tanning habit
With the warm weather ushering in another season of spring break, prom planning, and tropical vacations, many teens will undoubtedly be adding a summer glow -- indoors.
But CBS News Correspondent Michelle Miller shared some information on "The Early Show" that may lead parents to think twice about letting teens start -- or continue -- tanning.
Special section: Eye on Parenting
But have you ever wondered, why is tanning so stylish?
Miller reported this bronzed ideal began back in the 1920s, when style icon Coco Chanel fell asleep and burned under the Mediterranean sun.
However, in the decades since, people have learned that a good tan can be a bad thing. Prolonged sun exposure can lead to fatal forms of skin cancer.
Still, sun worshipers aren't seeking shade. Tanning is more popular than ever, evidenced by an explosion of indoor salons, servicing 30 million people every year -- nearly 2.3 million of those consumers are teenagers.
Stefani Gartenberg was a longtime tanning salon user. Like many teens her age, she began visiting tanning beds before her senior prom. Believing a 15-minute base tan was safer than hours under the sun, Gartenberg hit the tanning bed before big social events and vacations, until her doctor advised her to cool it.
"When I was 25, I went for a random skin check," Gartenberg recalled. "I had never gone before and he did a number of biopsies. One came back as a melanoma. When he said it, I was like, 'You mean it's like a pre-cancerous?' And he's like, 'No. It's a melanoma.'"
She added, "Everyone wants to be darker and darker and darker and no one thinks about the consequences of it."
Dermatologist Dr. Jeanine Downie told Miller, "If you're tanning when you're 15 through 25, you're going to increase your incidence of melanoma by about 75 percent. So that's very significant. Melanoma kills people."
Even in small doses, indoor tanning can be dangerous. The ultraviolet light emitted by tanning beds can be 12 to 15 times stronger than the sun's rays.
Recently, the American Association of Pediatrics announced it wants teens banned from these beds, but that may not be easy.
Christina Iannaccone was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and endured six painful surgeries to stop the cancer from spreading through her whole body.
She said, "I would wake up and go to the nearest tanning salon in the morning. I would then go again in the afternoon...twice a day, seven days a week. Even when I got diagnosed, I went straight to a tanning salon. ... Tanning is an addiction."
Lawmakers around the country are trying to pull the plug, with 32 states passing laws or regulations restricting teen tanning. New York is considering banning it all together. Doctors say it's necessary.
Miller asked the dermatologist, "Is there anyway to balance going to tanning booth?"
Downie replied, "According to The Skin Cancer Foundation and The American Academy of Dermatology, we do not think there is any way you can balance going to a tanning salon. You should absolutely, positively not do it."
On "The Early Show" co-anchor Erica Hill spoke about the tanning phenomenon with psychologist and "Early Show" Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein
Hill said, "A lot of kids go, and a lot of people started doing this because, let's be honest, you feel good when you've got a little bit of a tan. Most people feel like they look better. But with all of the information that we get constantly, and a lot here on 'The Early Show' about how bad it is for you, why is there still such, you know, a fascination with it?"
"Well, we do feel better," she said. "It does have these positive benefits. And on top of it, there's this idea of 'Oh, you're tan, you must have gone on vacation.' It makes you look more relaxed. It brightens your skin. All of that makes us look more attractive to other people. Makes us feel more attractive to ourselves. The benefits can't really be minimized. That's important to a lot of people."
Hartstein said tanning can be addicting because of the mood boost associated with tanning.
"You're getting a vitamin D boost, which we know helps your moods. Unfortunately, it's a short-lived mood boost. And it's not going to last. What do you have to do? Keep going, keep going, keep going. And you're going to keep getting that mood boost."
So how do you break the habit?
"You almost have to start cold turkey," Hartstein said. "You really have to say to yourself, 'I can't do this anymore. I've got to find other alternatives. There's other ways that I can find this. There's other ways that I can feel good.' I have to figure out what those are."
But what if it's your child who is struggling with tanning - how do you break the habit for them?
"I think first and foremost parents really need to discuss what the dangers are," Hartstein said. "They need to put out there what it is that's happening. This whole, 'Oh, you're going to get cancer' thing, that's not really going to scare them. But it can age your skin 10 to 20 times. That you're going to get early wrinkles - that might be enough."
She continued, "Figure out as a parent what the information is you need to provide to your kids. Secondly, provide those options. Vitamin D supplements are going to give you that mood boost. Spray tanning. Find the right bronzer. You may have to try 30 different kinds, but find it and get there. And then go through the pros and cons. Why are they going? Is it a popularity thing? Are all the good kids doing it?"
Hartstein added, "And if you're a parent and don't believe in it, stand your ground and don't drive your kids to the tanning salons."
"You're in charge," Hill said.
"Absolutely," Hartstein said. "A lot of kids will report their parents were the first ones to take them."
Hill said, "You mention spray tanners or bronzers. We look at a lot of the Hollywood people. They may have the glow, or typically they're getting spray tans or using a bronzer."
"Right," Hartstein said. "You have to maybe go and try several different ones, talk with makeup artist to figure out what one is best for you. But that's your best option."
Hartstein said the no-tan method could actually give you the mood boost, too.
She explained, "Your skin's going to look better and look brighter. And if you add some vitamin D supplements and incidental sun, that's going to help your mood, as well."