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Almost half of the people surveyed for a new study said they have used sunbeds despite knowing the risks to their skin — and many who sunbathe believe it is worth getting “slightly sunburned” to get a tan. These “horrifying” findings have prompted the Cork-based doctors and researchers who carried out the study to say more skin cancer education is urgently needed. The study of more than 1,000 people found tanned skin is still seen as a sign of beauty and not “dangerous” sun damage.

Health campaigns need to challenge this more effectively, the authors said. They also called for more research into the “potential addictive nature” of sunbathing as their research shows people know the risks but sunbathe without protection anyway. Out of 1,043 people who took part in the study, the largest of its kind in Ireland, 10.



6% had used a sunbed in the last year with an average of eight sessions each. Some 41.5% have used sunbeds at any time, the study, under senior author Professor Michelle Murphy at South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital and University College Cork , found.

Other worrying findings include: Co-author Catriona Gallagher said the use of sun-beds is “horrifying” especially as the data was gathered during the pandemic when tanning beds should have been in lockdown. “There’s this enduring appeal of a tan, it’s so deeply ingrained in society and I think it will just take time to change that,” Dr Gallagher told the Irish Examiner. I think we n.

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