Skin Cancer Blog

Tanning Beds Get Highest Carcinogen Rating

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, July 28 – The International Agency for Research on Cancer on Tuesday moved tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category – "carcinogenic to humans," according to a new report.

Previously, the agency had classified sunlamps and tanning beds as "probably" carcinogenic, so the move puts the devices a notch higher in terms of risk. It also echoes calls by some U.S. experts to place tougher warnings and restrictions on tanning bed use. Read more...

Related support groups: Skin Cancer, Sunburn, Skin Cancer, Basal Cell, Skin Cancer, Melanoma, Skin Cancer, Squamous Cell, Wrinkles

Tanning Beds Get Highest Carcinogen Rating

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, July 28 – The International Agency for Research on Cancer on Tuesday moved tanning beds to its highest cancer risk category – "carcinogenic to humans," according to a new report.

Previously, the agency had classified sunlamps and tanning beds as "probably" carcinogenic, so the move puts the devices a notch higher in terms of risk. It also echoes calls by some U.S. experts to place tougher warnings and restrictions on tanning bed use. Read more...

Related support groups: Skin Cancer, Melanoma, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Caffeine May Offer Some Skin Cancer Protection

Posted 3+ months ago by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Feb. 26 – Past studies have suggested that caffeine might offer some protection from skin cancer, and new research may explain why.

"We have found what we believe to be the mechanism by which caffeine is associated with decreased skin cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Paul Nghiem, an associate professor of dermatology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

For the study, Nghiem's team looked at caffeine's effect on human skin cells in a laboratory that had been exposed to ultraviolet radiation. They found that in cells damaged by UV rays, caffeine interrupted a protein called ATR-Chk1, causing the damaged cells to self-destruct.

"Caffeine has no effect on undamaged cells," Nghiem said. Read more...

Related support groups: Skin Cancer