News Flash: Tanning Beds Are Death Boxes

Now that summer is over and your tan is becoming a distant memory, some of you may be tempted to try to keep your color with a few trips to the tanning bed. In the U.S., salons are supposed to require parental consent and limit exposure, but shock of all shocks, most bend the rules. Surveys estimate 2.3 million teens use a tanning bed at least once a year.

Because we've always wanted to be in a PSA, Sparklife would like to offer some unfriendly reminders on why indoor tanning is so 1988:

- This vanity insanity can leave you looking like Magda from There's Something About Mary.

-Death boxes Tanning beds can trigger claustrophobia.

- A lightbulb-kissed glow is not the same as a sun-kissed glow. Just ask Donatella Versace.

- Not every salon is rigorous about sanitizing their beds after each use. Do you really want your butt on the same bed this guy touched?

- It will make your eyes bug out of your head. Just kidding! But prolonged exposure to UV rays can cause cataracts and other eye problems.

- As vampires have taught us, pale is the new bronze.

- If that's not enough, we'll scare the pants off of you (or the tan off of you) with a death threat. Teens exposed to UV radiation from indoor tanning lamps have a 75% higher risk of developing skin cancer. (For those of you not in AP Statistics, that's a lot.)

The More You Know...

Do you fake bake? Why or why not?

Related post: Blister in the Sun