PITTSBURGH -- Shannon Genday is 19 years old. She used to be a sun lover.

Genday said, “I used to think I looked a little better if I had a tan.”

To keep that brown glow year round, she got a job at a tanning salon taking full advantage of unlimited free tanning for employees. Now she has a very different opinion.

Genday said, “One day tanning beds will have a label just like cigarette labels. 'This can kill you', that's what it should say. People shouldn’t say this causes skin cancer because there are three different kinds of skin cancer and one can be a lot more serious than others.”

Genday admits she was hooked on tanning. “I went tanning probably two or three times a week since my sophomore year in high school so I probably tanned for a good three or four years.”

Her tan looked great, but she had no idea the toll it was taking on her health. That is until last spring when Genday found a raised, red spot on her leg.

A biopsy showed it was malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. That lesion was removed along with another pre-cancerous spot on her other leg. The surgery left large scars on her lower legs.

Genday said she was shocked when she got the diagnosis.

She said, “Being a teenager I never thought something like this would happen to me.”

Unfortunately, cancer experts say it is happening to more and more teens. Dr. John Kirkwood of the Hillman Cancer Center at UPMC in Pittsburgh said, “We are seeing many, many more teenagers than we had ever seen in the past.

Among the teens we've seen, the use of tanning parlors has been a much more common phenomenon than in others. That’s not to say all the time, but I have to say, the use of tanning parlors is seen more often amongst the teens with melanoma.”

A study by the researchers at Case Western University found 30 to 40 percent of teens use tanning booths repeatedly.

Kirkwood said many people believe tanning beds are safer than the sun, which he said is not true.

“In the tanning parlor there is no atmosphere between lamp and skin. The damage that can happen in a tanning parlor is every bit as worrisome as what happens out of doors in the sun.” Kirkwood said.

Using criteria adapted from those used to screen for alcoholism and drug dependency, researchers at the University of Texas recently found evidence that repetitive tanning may be a product of a kind of addiction.

That information doesn’t surprise Genday. She admits making sure her school schedule allowed for tanning time and says it was a habit that made her feel good.

“It does release endorphins and can be addicting. I can tell that I would want to go tan. It would relax me. It was something fun to do, very, very relaxing.” Genday said.

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