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Tanning is your body's natural protection against sunburn - it is what your
body is designed to do. Many have referred to this process as "damage"
to your skin, but calling a tan "damage" is a dangerous oversimplification.
Here is why:
Calling a tan damage to your skin is like calling exercise damage to your muscles.
Consider, when one exercises you are actually tearing tiny muscle fibers in
your body. On the surface, examined at the micro-level, that could be called
"damage." But that damage on the micro-level is your body's natural
way on the macro-level of building stronger muscle tissue. So to call exercise
"damaging" to muscles would be terribly deceiving. The same can be
said of sun exposure: Your body is designed to repair any damage to the skin
caused by ultraviolet light exposure. Developing a tan is its natural way to
protect against the dangers of sunburn and further exposure.
Saying that any ultraviolet light exposure causes skin damage is a dangerous
oversimplification. It would be like saying that since water causes drowning,
humans should avoid all water. Yes, water causes drowning, but our bodies also
need water; we would die without it. Similarly, we need ultraviolet light exposure;
we would die without it. It is the professional indoor tanning industry's position
that sunburn prevention is a more effective message than total abstinence, which
ultimately encourages abuse. It is a responsible, honest approach to the issue.
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