What Is A Tanning Bed Rash & How Do You Get Rid Of It

Everyone wants to look good, and healthy. One of the biggest signs of health is a tan, a tan makes you look good, healthy, and attractive. So it is no wonder that so many people in the world desire and seek a nice, dark tan.

If you live in a hot country, this is fine – you just need to go about your day-to-day business and you will have no problems getting a tan, in fact, you probably already have one, just from living in your hot place. Or if you don’t have one, maybe you spend too much time inside, you can get one relatively easily by spending a few hours a day sunbathing.

But not everyone lives in the Caribbean, Florida, or other hot countries or states – so what do they do. Well, many choose to head to a tanning salon and get on a tanning bed or into a tanning booth, if you do this regularly, spending 10 to 20 minutes a time in the tanning bed or tanning booth then you can have a tan that looks just as attractive and healthy as the tans of those people who live in hot countries or places.

While for the most part, using a tanning booth will result in similar results to what you would get if you were to go out into the sun, but quicker and more efficiently, there are a number of issues that people who regularly use sunbeds tend to encounter.

One of the ones that affect the largest number of people is the problem of tanning bed rash. This is a problem for regular users to tanning beds and it is rashes, or bumps, or itches, or dry skin that appear on the skin after prolonged use of the tanning bed.

If this affliction has affected you, then read on to find out exactly what causes the problem, and how you can fix it.

What Causes Tanning Bed Rash

1. Overdose Of UV RadiationFor those of you that are just experiencing a rash caused by a tanning bed or tanning salon, this is the most likely cause. Most rashes are caused by basically overdoing it on the tanning bed, and your skin is receiving more UV radiation than it can generally handle, this causes what is called an overdose on your skin, because your skin, or more specifically the melanin on the skin, can’t absorb the radiation coming from the tanning bed fast enough – the excess causes the rash that appears on your skin.
2. Dry SkinThis is another common cause of tanning bed rash. The heat and the hot light from the tanning bed quickly dry out your skin. This can cause a rash and is also a common cause of the itching on the skin that can you sometimes get after using tanning beds.
3. Light Sensitivity DisorderThe one cause of tanning bed rash that you can’t do anything about. Some people have what is called a light sensitivity disorder, this is basically where the lights within a tanning bed cause a reaction within the skin, it is almost like an allergy. Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do about this, if you have the disorder/allergy then you have the disorder. You basically need to make a decision whether the tanning is worth it for you if you have this disorder. If you can tolerate the rash, then great, you are fine. But if you can’t stand the rash then you should stop tanning, as this is the only thing that will make it go away.

How To Get Rid Of Tanning Bed Rash

Stop Tanning For A Few Days

If it is the first time that you have suffered from a rash, and it isn’t or it hasn’t been a recurring problem for you, then stopping tanning for a few days will probably clear it right up.

As above, one of the primary causes of a rash caused by a tanning bed or tanning booth is because of an overdose of UV radiation on your skin. So, to cure the rash, you need to give your skin a chance to heal and absorb the UV radiation that is currently working to deal with.

The best way to do that is to not subject your skin to any further UV radiation, at least until the rash is gone.

The rash being gone is the best indicator of UV radiation overdose no longer being a problem for you.

So what you should do, when you notice a rash, is to stop using the tanning bed immediately.

Eventually, the rash will go away on its own, then you should give it a few more days for the skin to absorb any final bits of radiation, and then you can resume using the tanning bed.

Moisturize

If you’re tanning bed rash is caused by dry skin, as I mentioned above, then there is a simple and effective way to reduce the rash and the itching that is associated with the rash.

You need to take a pretty proactive stance on moisturizing. Since the rash is caused by a dry skin condition that you have, keeping your skin moisturized is the way to stop that from being a problem.

You should moisturize before you get in the tanning bed, to ensure that your skin is suitably hydrated before the tanning light has a chance to dry your skin out.

But you also should moisturize as soon as possible after you leave the tanning salon, to replace the hydration in your skin that will have inevitably been lost by the tanning light.

Conclusion

As long as you are proactive with your solutions, as in not tanning when you have a rash and keeping your skin sufficiently hydrated, you can easily negate the effects of tanning bed rash and ensure that you have a healthy, happy tanning bed experience.

So you can have a healthy, attractive-looking tan and avoid any nasty rashes that may appear, which is what you are aiming for.