That Tanning Bed Moment Can Turn Into "Eye-opening Burn"

I've written about tanning beds and their danger ad nauseum - seriously folks - if you don't get it by now - I'll say it again - regular tanning bed use = skin cancer danger. Period, finito!! That being said, people will still want that winter golden glow and not heed my dire warnings.  Well, one woman got more than a tan glow in this story.

A woman who purchased and owned a home tanning bed set the timer, got in and promptly fell asleep.  The timer was supposed to turn off in 20 minutes but 3 hours later her husband came home to find his wife fast asleep in the tanning bed.  He rushed his wife to the hospital knowing that in the case of tanning beds, the waves penetrate and can actually affect internal body organs as well as surface skin.  The timer has never gone off and these home beds have no backup timers - if the models pre-date 2000.  The company is sending the woman - who has not learned her lesson - a new bed with a backup timer and is re-imbursing medical costs associated with the malfunction.

Experts believe that rising rates of skin cancer are due to sun lamps and tanning beds, especially squamous cell carcinoma.  Tanning bed use also doubles your risk of basal cell carcinoma.  In the US, nearly 28 million people frequent a tanning salon and half of all high school girls visit tanning salons with some frequency.