Doctor Warns Social Media Is Making Tanning Seem Safe

A skin doctor in Glasgow is calling on the UK government to ban commercial sunbeds and do more to protect people from skin cancer. Dr. Amy Perkins, a consultant dermatologist, says social media is making dangerous tanning habits look normal and even healthy. She believes that awareness campaigns alone are not enough to stop rising rates of melanoma, one of the most serious forms of skin cancer. Dr. Perkins wants stronger laws, better education, and lasting change in the way people think about sun exposure.

Dr. Perkins says social media platforms are a big part of the problem. Algorithms — the hidden rules that decide what content people see — tend to push posts that get strong reactions. That means extreme tanning videos and misleading health claims can spread much farther online than honest medical advice. She has previously spoken out about sunbed companies making false claims, such as saying that sunbeds are actually good for your health.

The World Health Organization's cancer agency has classified UV radiation from sunbeds as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it is a proven cause of cancer. This puts it in the same category as tobacco smoke. Dr. Perkins says it is impossible to justify advertising sunbeds as safe or beneficial. People with lighter skin tones face the highest risk of skin cancer, but no skin tone is completely safe from UV damage.

She also points out that this is a fairness issue. Sunbed shops are more common in poorer neighborhoods, meaning people in those areas face greater exposure to a known health risk. As climate change brings warmer weather, outdoor UV exposure is increasing for everyone. Dr. Perkins says the argument that sunbed bans only make sense in hot countries no longer holds in a warming world.

Dr. Perkins wants the UK to follow countries like Australia, Brazil, and Iran, which have already banned commercial sunbeds. She is urging the government to put a national skin-cancer prevention strategy at the center of its cancer plan. This strategy should include programs that help people change their behavior, community education, and better tools for catching skin cancer early. She believes all these steps working together can make a real difference.

Prevention, she says, should start with children. Schools can sign up with a program called Sun Safe Schools, run by the skin cancer charity Skcin, to teach kids good habits around sun safety from an early age. Dr. Perkins also wants schools to teach digital literacy — the skill of thinking critically about what you see online. If children learn to spot misleading health content and understand how algorithms work, they will be better protected from harmful messages as they grow up.