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Addiction to tanning is growing problem

Tanning beds, reflector blankets, sun roasting

Updated: Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 3:44 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 30 Jul 2010, 3:42 PM EDT

Tom Llamas

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. (NBC) - Tanning beds, reflector blankets and roasting in the sun.

Deborah Bonelli of East Meadow, N.Y. has done it all.

"I'm addicted," she admits. "I do like that little glow."

Getting the glow for 25 years led to wrinkles. Then, she had to have a mole removed.

Tanning addiction is a growing problem the Archives of Dermatology is researching and one Dr. Deborah Sarnoff sees almost every day in her Long Island office.

"The sad thing with melanoma is that it has a propensity to spread to the brain, the liver, the lungs," she points out.

Sarnoff is seeing more and more skin damage in her younger patients.

A study by the World Health Organization showed risk of skin cancer jumps 75 percent when people regularly use tanning beds before the age of 30.

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