RESEARCH ARTICLE
Addiction to Tanning – A New Cause of Early Onset of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer
Uwe Wollina*
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2009Volume: 3
First Page: 86
Last Page: 88
Publisher ID: TODJ-3-86
DOI: 10.2174/1874372200903010086
Article History:
Received Date: 22/05/2009Revision Received Date: 09/06/2009
Acceptance Date: 10/06/2009
Electronic publication date: 28/7/2009
Collection year: 2009
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common non-melanoma skin cancer world wide. UV exposure plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of this tumor that is more common in older people. In the past, BCC in people younger than 30 years of age have been seen in connection with genetic diseases like Gorlin-Goltz syndrome. The histological type was mostly superficial and most common localization was on the trunk. Nowadays, frequent indoor tanning is a risk behavior that might lead to early development of facial and aggressive BCC in people younger than 30 years of age. This is illustrated by a case report of a 29-year old addictive indoor tanner, skin type I, who developed a solid BCC of the nose after more than 10 years of weekly tanning. Current health campaigns and preventive programs seem to be ineffective in this subgroup of patients. New strategies need to be developed.
