TWEAKMENT
Are you (and your daughter) still using sunbeds? Please read this!
By
24th June 2025
Updated: 8th December 2025
Updated: 8th December 2025
Alice wrote about the worrying rise in sunbed use back in 2023 — and unfortunately, the trend hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s picking up pace again, despite better understanding about the risks of even ‘a short session’. Most concerningly at all, popularity is growing fastest among a new demographic – Gen Z.
New data by Melanoma Focus suggests a surge in sunbed usage in 18 to 25 year olds (43% admit using one). And, despite campaigns to ban sunbeds, plus wider education about the cancer risk they pose, there has also been a troubling ‘rebrand’ of sunbeds on digital platforms such as TikTok, where they are even being touted as a ‘healthier way’ to soothe skin concerns and boost your vitamin D.
To provide the sunbed myth-busting guide you might still need, we’ve updated Alice’s original piece below, as a reminder of why sunbeds remain one of the most dangerous things you can do for your skin. Take a note of it yourself, and do pass it on to your friends and family too…
Sunbeds damage your skin
I thought sunbeds were on the way out, but I’m really distressed to see that they are more popular than ever. The number of tanning salons in the UK nearly doubled between 2012 and 2022, and despite multiple campaigns to ban them, nothing has really changed.
But, what’s the problem? Sunbeds are really bad for the skin because they are just giving you massive doses of UVA. This accelerates ageing in the skin, which causes you to get dark spots and wrinkling much earlier than you should. Worse still, UVA exposure increases your risk of skin cancer. That’s why the World Health Organisation classifies sunbeds as carcinogenic. It’s estimated that using sunbeds can increase your risk of melanoma skin cancer by 20%, says Cancer Research UK.
Skin cancer isn’t just a problem for the elderly
It also bothers me because skin cancer is no longer just an old-person thing – something I really hope the new Gen Z sunbed users take note of.
Sure, after a lifetime of UV exposure, many of us will start developing skin cancers of one sort or another and the various forms of skin cancer used to be confined to people of 60 and over who had spent a lot of time outside or abroad without sunscreen.
But rates of melanoma for under 55s have increased by 63% in the past 25 years. Significantly, the risk of melanoma doubles for sunbed users under the age of 35.
Sunbeds don’t give you vitamin D
If you’re a sunbed fan and you’re making excuses to yourself that you need the vitamin D, can I remind you that you do not get vitamin D from lying on a sunbed. You need real summer sunlight on the skin, and the UVB rays it contains, for that.
Sunbeds are banned in Brazil and Australia
There is really nothing to recommend sunbed use, particularly when self-tans have become so very good and easy to use. Commercial sunbeds are banned in Brazil and Australia, and a 2019 survey by the British Skin Foundation found that 77 per cent of the dermatologists they asked supported a sunbed ban in the UK (I’m amazed it wasn’t 100%).
Don’t forget: it’s illegal in England, Scotland and Wales for under-18s to use sunbeds.
There are safer management options for eczema
The sunbed revival, especially on social media, seems to stem predominantly from reviews touting their benefits for relieving eczema symptoms, such as inflammation, itching and redness, and we can totally understand why someone would want some relief from a chronic condition. However, don’t risk your own safety in the process. Always speak to your doctor or a dermatologist about safer management options – including lifestyle and diet changes, and topical skincare first. They can also guide you on whether phototherapy (as the medical treatment is called) could even work for you.
I used to love a tanning session. But I wouldn’t use one now.
Yes, ok it felt kind-of-wonderful lying in the full glare of a bunch of UV tubes, especially before a holiday, or when the days are short and the weather is dull. I know, I used to use them regularly. Heavens, the gym I belonged to in the 80s gave out a token for the sunbeds along with our locker keys on every single visit, and if I had 20 minutes spare, I’d be on there.
But now? I wouldn’t dream of it. I really wouldn’t, and I would strongly recommend that you don’t either. Hopefully this ‘trend’ for sunbed use will end very soon.
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