High School Students 'Just Say No' to Tanning Beds

Prom is an important event for many high school students--an event that requires manicures, pedicures, new clothes, and maybe even a tan for that skin that has been covered during the long winter months.

Each spring, in honor of May as Skin Cancer Awareness Month, Carroll Hospital Center uses grant money from the Cigarette Restitution Fund to educate local high school students about the dangers of tanning bed use. 

Nurse and community educator at the Carroll Hospital Center, Marcia McMullin said that her team visited North Carroll, Manchester Valley and South Carroll High schools during lunch periods this spring. They set up tables with information and a pledge form but the real draw, she said, was the skin analyzer, a device that uses black light to show sun damage.

"Some of the students were shocked when they saw the amount of damage from overexposure to the sun," McMullin said. "They were really like, 'Oh my God'--they were freaked out." 

According to McMullin, 120 students took a pledge to not use tanning beds and six of those students then won prizes including gift certificates for hair treatments at Orbital Salon and discounts on Tux rentals at Country View Tuxedos.

McMullin and her team also reach out to younger students in the county to teach about the dangers of tanning bed use. She said they use a program called "SunSafe" through the Maryland Skin Cancer Coalition and work with kids in programs like Headstart and vacation bible schools. They have also done programs at elementary schools that involve planting trees and telling kids that it's "safer in the shade". 

According to the American Cancer Society, tanning beds release dangerously high levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause premature aging of skin and increase skin cancer risks. Short-term indoor tanning can cause red, itchy, dry skin and long-term indoor tanning can lead to sagging, wrinkled skin. The American Cancer Society reports that tanning beds can burn skin and eyes and cause damage to the immune system. 

"We usually get a number of students who say they will never use tanning beds again after seeing the sun damage on their own face under the black light," McMullin said. "The program is always received very positively by students and administration."