Indoor Tanning Bed Use to Melanoma Melanoma rates are rising among young women, possibly due to increasing ultraviolet radiation to previously protected body sites. Therefore, we examined melanoma incidence trends by age, gender, and body site. Descriptive methods were complemented with the age-period-cohort parameters net drift and longitudinal age trend. Melanoma is a kind of skin cancer. It is not as common as other types of skin cancer, but it is the most serious. Melanoma can affect your skin only, or it may spread to your organs and bones. As with other cancers, treatment for melanoma works best when the cancer is found early. This topic is about melanoma that occurs in the skin. It does not cover melanoma that occurs in the eye or in any other part of the body besides the skin. Melanoma starts in skin cells called melanocytes and can spread throughout the body. There are many causes to melanoma such as you can get melanoma by spending too much time in the sun. Too much sun exposure causes normal skin cells to become abnormal. These abnormal cells quickly grow out of control and attack the tissues around them. Melanoma tends to run in families. Other things in your family background can increase your chances of getting the disease. For example, you may have abnormal, or atypical, moles. Atypical moles may fade into the skin and have a flat part that is level with the skin. They may be smooth or slightly scaly, or they may look rough and "pebbly." Having many atypical moles increases your risk of melanoma. I choose this topic based on the mass amounts of information I could find on the subject. I also choose this topic, because I wanted to find and research something that I have no prior knowledge to. I like to challenge myself and broaden my brain about the causes and effects of tanning and its relationship with melanoma. There are many risk factors for developing melanoma. The risk factor you can best control to reduce your risk of melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun. such examples to help prevent skin cancer are stay out of the sun during the midday hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Wear protective clothing. This includes a hat with a brim to shade your ears and neck, a shirt with sleeves to cover your shoulders, and pants. The best fabric for skin protection has a tight weave to keep sunlight out. Use a sunscreen every day with an SPF of at least 15. Look for a sunscreen that protects against both types of ultraviolet radiation in the sun's rays-UVA and UVB. Use a higher SPF when you are at higher elevations. Set a good example for your children by protecting your skin from too much sun and most of all avoid sunbathing and tanning salons. Studies suggest that your risk of melanoma increases by 75% if you start using artificial tanning before you are 30 years old. Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a proven human carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, an affiliate of the World Health Organization, includes ultraviolet (UV) tanning devices in its Group 1, a list of the most dangerous cancer-causing substances. Group 1 also includes agents such as plutonium, cigarettes, and solar UV radiation. Currently tanning beds are regulated by the FDA as Class I medical devices18, the same designation given elastic bandages and tongue depressors. Frequent tanners using new high-pressure sunlamps may receive as much as 12 times the annual UVA dose compared to the dose they receive from sun exposure. People who tan indoors just four times per year increase their risk of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma by 15 percent, and their risk of melanoma by 11 percent. Just one indoor tanning session per year in high school or college boosts the risk of basal cell carcinoma by 10 percent. That risk is increased to 73 percent if one tans six times per year. Indoor tanners have a 69 percent increased risk of early-onset basal cell carcinoma. Approximately 25 percent of