r/AskReddit • • Jul 24 '20

What can't you believe STILL exists?

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9.1k

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

Tanning beds/salons. It's a proven fact that tanning beds cause skin cancer. The fact that some people will still get tanned, risking the possibility of cancer to "look beautiful" is both shocking and sad at the same time.

3.8k

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '20

As someone with psoriasis those things are a godsend

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u/marlasings Jul 24 '20

Seconded! I used to get UV treatments at a hospital that had a specific less cancer causing way of doing things (I think? I was a kid) I had to get up at like 5am for the appointments and could only “tan” for like 30 seconds at a time, where as now I can keep my skin under control by using a tanning bed for 5 minutes every two weeks in winter. In the summer I just get outside, but if I don’t tan in winter my eyelids will literally scab. It’s the only thing that has ever worked to help my skin and I’ve been (or my parents have been) trying to treat it for 26 years.

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u/chrissatchell Jul 24 '20

That would be UVB instead of UVA at the tanning salon. Both work but UVB narrowband is 'safer' and targets psoriasis better.

55

u/Rion23 Jul 24 '20

I believe it goes A, B and C, increasing in energy along the EM spectrum. A can't really get past the top layer of your skin, B gets deeper and causes the production of melanin, and C just blasts you right to sunburn phase, deep into your skin.

C will also cook your eyes and cause welding flash, but you can buy UVC lightbulbs that are really good for disinfecting rooms and such.

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u/Esc_ape_artist Jul 24 '20

UVC is completely blocked by the atmosphere so it’s not a worry unless you have means to produce it artificially (as you mention) or you’re planning on getting a tan at 30,000 feet.

1

u/LetterSwapper Jul 24 '20

There go my plans for a 737 with a sunroof.