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Teens and Tanning
An Unhealthy Practice
By Kelly Burgess
My 15-year-old daughter, Wende, has a friend who goes to the tanning parlor three times a week with her mother. The mom works full time, so they started doing this last fall as a little outing that didn't take much time or money. Naturally, my daughter thinks that's the coolest thing on earth and would give anything to do the same with me – as she has told me on many occasions. What I won't let her give is her life.
You see, a couple of years ago at the urging of our family doctor who didn't like the look of a couple of her many moles, Wende had her first visit to the dermatologist. The dermatologist removed the moles, which were thankfully benign, and let us go with a chilling lecture. It turns out that Wende is at an unusually high risk for melanoma. She's a blue-eyed blonde, has fair skin and has more than her share of moles. She also has a family history of both squamous and basal cell cancers – on both sides of the family.
Although the lecture fell on Wende's deaf ears, it scared the heck out of me. I subsequently banned Wende from sunbathing, using tanning beds, going outside without sunscreen and even rolling down her socks when she was sitting on the bench waiting to bat. Does she obey? She does when I'm there. When I'm not, well, let me just say that I've noticed a few light tan lines already this spring. I don't punish her, but I do let her know that I see them and I reiterate that melanoma is a very bad thing that she doesn't want to get. There is no doubt that she is a lot more careful than she used to be, although whether that's out of true agreement or fear of lecture, I don't know. Frankly, I don't much care as long as it's working.
