Burns related to sunbed use

Abstract

The quest for a year round tan has led to an increase in the use of artificial tanning devices, namely sunbeds. There has been much debate in the press recently regarding the dangers of sunbed use and calls for tighter regulation of the industry, particularly the licensing of unmanned tanning salons. The dangers of sunbed use have long been recognised and the body of evidence linking sunbed use to skin malignancy is growing, in fact this month the Lancet published a review from the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifying UV emitting tanning devices as carcinogenic to humans. At the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery we noticed a rise in the number of patients presenting with burns related to sunbed use and present our data surrounding this injury over the last 6 years.