Emily Harrow's skin is naturally golden, but she started using tanning booths in college with a lot of her peers.

"When I was in college, it was the darker the better," says Harrow, 28. "The motto I heard was, 'If you can't tone it, tan it.' "

Young women like Harrow often get caught in the tanning craze in high school and college. To them, it feels good and looks good, but dermatologists say it's dangerous.

And about this time of year, young women and men anticipating spring breaks or holiday trips start to renew their summer tans with regular visits to the tanning salon.

The American Academy of Dermatology just launched a new campaign to discourage young women - particularly white, teenage girls - from tanning, especially in indoor tanning beds. The brightly colored ads will appear in newspapers, in magazines and on Web sites in the coming weeks.

Mimicking language from text and instant messages, some of the ads read: "Tanning beds can B like asking for skin cancer." "OMG! There R 2 many risks like surgery and wrinkly, ugly skin" and "Tanning is 4 losers!"

The language is as harsh as dermatologists' disdain for tanning, whether it's in the sun or indoors. "Our advice is that there is no such thing as a safe tan," says Dr. Michael Gold, dermatologist at Gold Skin Care Center in Green Hills, Tenn. "There isn't one tanning bed out there that is safe."

Rockland county legislators are well aware of this. In August, members of the Rockland County Legislature passed a bill banning indoor tanning to anyone under the age of 16 and restricting the tanning of 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill requires the youngsters' parents to to visit the tanning salon with the teen's first visit and to read and sign a copy of an information sheet that highlights the dangers of tanning.

Melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer, is the most common cancer among people 25 to 29 years old. Skin cancer almost always arises from frequent exposure to ultraviolet rays, whether from the sun or a tanning bed. A melanoma can start small, no bigger than a blackhead, but within months forms a large, dark ridge on the skin of the face, back or extremities. Usually, a surgeon must remove the tumor, which can leave scars. If you've had skin cancer once, you're at higher risk of developing it again.

Despite the facts, most people know that young people often do the opposite of what adults suggest or demand. Will the strongly worded ads have the desired effect, or will young women brush them off and continue baking in tanning beds? "If we don't tell them, they'll do it. If we tell them not to do it, they'll do it. Education is all we've got," Gold said.

Lee Wallin, owner of a tanning salon in Tennessee, doesn't think the new ads are going to stop young people, teens in particular, from tanning.

Wallin says it's more important that teens learn how to take care of their skin. That includes moisturizing to prevent wrinkles, always wearing sunscreen outdoors and spacing tanning-bed sessions at least 24 hours apart.

Exposure to sunlight makes you feel good, even dermatologists admit that. Sunlight causes your body to release serotonin, a hormone associated with a positive mood. Another upside to tanning can be a so-called "base tan" because it provides your skin with some protection from sunburn. But, a base tan offers an SPF of about 3 or 4, far less than the SPF 30 most doctors say you need.

The tawny-skinned Harrow wanted a tan before her Thanksgiving trip to Mexico. An aesthetician sprayed on a sunless tanning solution that instantly colored Harrow a deeper brown. The color will darken over the next few days. The tan can last from five days to two weeks. It's an option dermatologists hope women will try as the latest sunless tanners have gotten better, avoiding the orange tint of earlier formulas.

Harrow hopes more girls and young women will follow her lead and avoid the UV-ray exposure.

"You look better and feel better when you tan. This is so easy to do," she said about the airbrush, which took about 15 minutes, plus drying time. "When you're told something is bad or it's constantly in your face, then you may try to find another way to tan."

Source:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070102/LIFESTYLE01/701020312/1031