The survey results were released last month as part of the charity’s sunbed awareness campaign R UV UGLY, highlighting how overexposure to UV from sunbeds or the sun can affect your wellbeing, damaging the DNA in your skin cells, and increasing your risk of skin cancer. On a cosmetic level, UV rays cause pigmentation beneath the skin’s surface, which makes you look old before your time
According to the results of the study, over two thirds (68%) of sunbed users are concerned about sunbeds ageing their skin, and a fifth (19%) start to use anti-ageing products by the time they are 25. This is compared with only five% of people who don’t use sunbeds – a number so small possibly because anti-ageing products cost. Of those who use anti-ageing products, 30% of sunbed users spend over £20 every month, whereas only 8% of non sunbed users would fork out the same amount.
So what’s the deal with sunbeds? Why are they so popular as a cosmetic method when they cause such cosmetic damage (and cancerous damage too)? 41% of sunbed users claim they do it to get a base tan ahead of a holiday, whilst 24% report using them ‘look more attractive.’ Peer pressure gripped 8% of users, who say they did it because it was ‘what all my friends did,’ whilst around 11% use them to stay tanned over winter, and 7% claimed using a sunbed helped them feel younger.
Caroline Cerny, senior health campaigns manager at Cancer Research UK, explained, ‘We live in an image obsessed culture, and know many sunbed users continue to use them because they think they look better with a tan. But actually they are making their skin look worse. Sunbeds can result in premature ageing and wrinkles, as well as increased pigmentation on the skin.’
The societal pressure to look young, tanned and gorgeous is being tackled by the R UV UGLY campaign with the help of a host of celebrities including Made in Chelsea model Rosie Fortescue, who said sunbed use has damaged her friends’ skin from an early age. She urged, ‘I hope all young people realise that beauty comes from within and they embrace Cancer Research UK’s R UV UGLY campaign by ditching sunbeds for good. Your skin will benefit and you will be better off too!’