As is true with most everything in life, in moderation it can not hurt you. It is when you go overboard that you have to worry about the wrinking, the leathery looking skin and such.
Even in moderation, it CAN hurt you if you are predisposed to skin cancer. There's a good chance that it won't, but there's always a possibility that it might. Personally I prefer not to risk increasing my chances at developing cancer, however slight that risk is. Unfortunately the only you're going to know is once you actually develop cancer. Certainly there are certain indicators, like fair skin, hair/eye color, and how your skin generally reacts to the sun.
But you are actually wrong TooCute. It isn't the UVA that is harmful to your skin. It is the UVB. UVB is what the rays of sun produce. UVA is the good rays that cause the golden brown skin where as the UVB causes the redness.
Sorry, but actually you're completely wrong. The sun produces UVA, UVB, and UVC. Most of the UVC is abosrbed by the ozone layer. Of course that's got holes in it, so who knows?!
You are corrrect in saying that UVB is generally thought to be more harmful; since tanning beds on average emit only about 15% UVB (the rest UVA), I mentioned the UVA. UVA penetrates more deeply into the skin than UVB does, and actually it can cause more of the premature wrinkling and aging than UVB does, since it is penetrating deeper and it is affecting all the connective tissue and junk that hold your skin taut and smooth.
Are you going to notice this any time soon? No. 20 years down the line you might, however.
The other key point to remember is that UVA is still bad for you. It still causes damage. It can still cause melanoma - the worst type of skin cancer. And in fact, if you are on certain medications that make you sensitive to the light (I seem to recall perhaps from a commercial that accutane was one of these? I don't remember), UVA can be in fact worse for you than UVB - it makes your skin more sensitive to those particular wavelengths.
There are a gazillion studies supporting the "badness" of UVA if you want to read up on it. There are also apparently studies that show that the amount of UVB emitted by tanning beds is still harmful.
I just looked up what the American Association of Dermatologists have to say about <a href="http://www.aad.org/PressReleases/exposure.html">tanning salons</a>, and it includes the following:
The AAD supports the following requirements for indoor tanning facilities, including:
A warning statement defining potential hazards and consequences of exposure to UVA should be signed by each patron.
No minor should be permitted to use a tanning bed without written consent of a parent or guardian.
No person or facility should advertise the use of any UVA or UVB tanning device using wording such as "safe," "safe tanning,", "no harmful rays," "no adverse effect," or similar wording or concepts.
Are you definitely going to get skin cancer if you go to a tanning salon? No. Are you going to immediately see any bad effects from a tanning salon tan if you do it as they direct? Probably not.
Are you increasing the possibility that you might develop skin cancer at some point in your life? Definitely. End of story.
Besides, this was a thread on UV free tanning booths. How did UV tanning booths even become and issue?
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