Solarium safety

Last updated: 24 September 2007

Safety for your skin

Skin plays a vital role in keeping us healthy. It is the largest organ in our body, and it protects us from potential problems caused by such factors as dehydration, the sun, bacterial infections, and pollution. However, the skin's ability to protect us has limits. Various factors can cause damage that cannot be repaired. This is how skin cancer may develop.

Causes of cancer

One of the main causes of skin cancer is exposure to ultraviolet radiation, or UV rays. UV rays are invisible and are produced by the sun and replicated in certain kinds of sunlamps used in solariums.

UV rays cause skin cancer by creating changes in the cells of the skin. They can damage the cell directly. Tans and sunburns, for example, are both signs that UV rays have damaged the skin. In other cases, UV rays cause skin cancer indirectly by weakening the immune mechanisms in skin and the rest of the body.

Numerous studies have shown a clear link between skin cancer and unprotected exposure to UV rays. People who have fair skin that burns easily and does not tan, blue or green eyes, blonde or red hair, and a large number of moles and/or freckles on the body are at higher risk of developing skin cancer than people with dark or olive skin that tans easily. However, anybody who has spent their childhood or lived their life in Australia, is at risk of developing skin cancer.

Reducing your risks

Most people can prevent skin cancer by avoiding exposure to the sun and other sources of ultraviolet light such as sunlamps. Precautions are especially important for children and teenagers, with children in general spending more time outdoors than adults. In addition, epidemiological evidence suggests that sun exposure in childhood and adolescence contributes more to lifetime risk of skin cancer than a similar level of sun exposure in later life.

The best way to detect skin cancer in its early stages is to examine your skin often. See your doctor right away if you notice any of the following:

• Any new or existing spot, freckle, mole or lump that changes shape, colour or size.
• Any mole, lump or spot that bleeds, ulcerates and does not heal.
• Any mole, lump or spot that is abnormally dark or has discoloured patches.

Solarium safety concerns

Using a solarium is not a safe way to tan. A solarium tan will not protect your skin against skin cancer. In fact, using a solarium can result in serious damage to your skin.

Solariums are enclosed sun beds built with light tubes that emit UVA and UVB radiation from above and below your body. Even small doses of UVA and UVB damage the skin, contribute to the ageing process, and can cause skin cancer.

Standards Australia, the national organisation responsible for setting practice standards (Australian and New Zealand Standards) released updated operating guidelines for solariums (Standard AS/NZS 2635:2002 Solaria for cosmetic purposes) in March 2002. The new standard restricts operators from advertising their product as being safe or healthy. The standard requires written parental permission for under 18-year-olds and bans use of solariums by young people under the age of 15. It also warns customers to avoid the use of unsupervised solariums.

NSW Health does not recommend using solariums. If you choose to use a solarium, think carefully about all the risks. Solarium operators must provide you with correct information about the risks and ask you to sign a consent form before use. If you are unclear about the risks, or feel uncomfortable with what the operator tells you, it is strongly recommended that you choose not to use the solarium.

Government and industry working together

NSW Health has a Solarium Stakeholder Working Group - with representatives from NSW Health, the Australasian Solarium Association, the Cancer Institute, NSW Cancer Council, the Centre for Research and Psycho-oncology (CheRP), Department of Local Government, Local Government and Shires Association, Australia Solarium Association, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Fitness NSW, Advanced Association of Beauty Therapists and the Professional Hairdressers Association. This group is working to facilitate industry compliance with Standards Australia guidelines.

Discussions with this group have enabled the NSW Department of Health to bring compliance issues and skin cancers risks to the attention of the solaria industry.

Since July 2003, the Working Group has developed and distributed a combined industry package for solarium operators including Guidelines for Solarium Operators, a client consent form and a warning sign. Key guidelines conveyed in these materials include:

• Young people under 15 years of age should not be permitted to use solariums.
• Young people over 15 years but under 18 years must provide written parental consent, prior to using a solarium.
• Warning signs should be displayed about the dangers of exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVA and UVB).
• Client consent forms must be provided and completed by all solarium users prior to use.
• Each user should only have single sessions - no double sessions.
• Repeat exposure within 48 hours will not be allowed.
• A trained operator must supervise the use of any solarium.
• Clients with a particular skin-type (very white in colour, with lots of freckles) will not be allowed to use sun beds.

NSW Health will continue to support the industry in informing consumers of the risks associated with solaria use and is committed to reducing the unnecessary risk of skin cancer through the inappropriate use of solariums.

Related Links

• Australasian Solarium Association  http://www.solariumassociation.info/
• The Cancer Council New South Wales  http://www.cancercouncil.com.au