10 replies to this topic

[BomberMan]

I found that tanning was AMAZING for fighting both red marks AND acne you need quite a few sessions though and when you stop your skin breaks out like crazy....

[BomberMan]

what colour hair do you have?
Generally dark haired people tan darker I think but anyways I think you will be shocked about just how effective it is for killing acne (until you stop) and making red marks pretty much invisible! (it makes them brown too and generally evens out your complexion)
I think your right about the sebum thing, its because your skin is trying to repair the damage and dryness caused by the rays...

[BomberMan]

good luck, post back and let me know how well it works out for you i'm sure you'll be impressed with the results.
I cant wait until summer comes back so i can start tanning again, i think as a guy its the only time i can get away with it....

[BomberMan]

I just saw your gallery pics, your skin looks good!
are you a model?
please don't spoil that white porcalain look you'v got going on by tanning it really suits you, your so pretty!
i'm not trying to hit on you, just telling it like it is.
if you do though go easy at first, white skin burns so so easily...

[Wolfy]

I just saw your gallery pics, your skin looks good!
are you a model?
please don't spoil that white porcalain look you'v got going on by tanning it really suits you, your so pretty!
i'm not trying to hit on you, just telling it like it is.
if you do though go easy at first, white skin burns so so easily...

Ok here's the pro's and cons:

a) UV ages your skin (whatever age you are, trust me this isn't good)
b) UV and blue light kills P.Acnes which is the main bacteria that causes acne
c) UV makes acne *worse* in the long term
d) you can get blue light from products like dermalux, clearlight etc. (and if anything these things improve your skin and don't have any UV)
e) there's different sorts of UV, mainly UV-A, UV-B
f) UV-A doesn't seem to kill P.Acnes much; and ages skin the fastest, literally 50x faster. On the other hand it is the safest part of the spectrum, it doesn't cause cancer, but it makes skin go saggy and damages bloodvessels. If you already have tanned, UV-A releases the tan and you will brown very quickly; but it sounds like you never have so this isn't what you would want at all.
g) UV-B I'm not sure whether it kills P.Acnes, but it's the bit that mostly triggers tan formation. It doesn't age skin very quickly, but does cause the cancers.

If you really, really want to tan, given you have pale skin you probably should try to get mostly UV-B. UV-B is present in natural sunlight within an hour either way at midday, particularly in summer (n.b. 12pm isn't midday if you are in summertime, the clocks have gone forward, but the sun hasn't!), but UV-A is present all year round.

So, try tanning for *short* periods at midday. Really short, 10 mins maybe. That will build up the melanin in your skin. Avoid burning!

You can do the same with sun-ray lamps but many of them put out quite a lot of UV-A, which you probably don't want.

The only other advantages of getting a tan is that it will protect your skin year round from the UV-A.

But if I was you I would try to minimise sunlight exposure. If you get no sun exposure you will still look 18 when you are 50. But in the real world, you have to go in the sun to walk down the street and stuff. So you don't want to go nuts about it either way I suspect. A tan can give you maybe a built in SPF of 3.

My advice is to get the dermalux and some better make up; go really easy on the tanning.

I repeat: go *really* easy on the tanning. My acne is worse where I have had sunlight exposure.

Hope this helps.

[Wolfy]

Thanks so much Wolfkeeper! The only reason I'm thinking of getting a tan is to be accepted by more people. Although I don't want to have skin problems when I'm older and I don't want to age quicker either. Ugh it sucks! I'd use those self tanners that contain DHA but they aren't gonna hide my redness. Well I'll decide next month when I have spring break. It's a hard decision I think...

I think I'd advise you to cover your skin with makeup if at all possible. If it's mainly just redness, then I find makeup works pretty well (unless I blush- drinking cold water can help avoid that). Makeup doesn't cover bumps very well, but it does well if it's just redness.

On the other side of the coin, some dermatologist are actually encouraging people to tan a small amount now- skin produces vitamin D in sunlight, and the tan is to some extent protective. The amount they recommend probably isn't enough to stop acne (daily sunlight for several minutes can mostly prevent new spots, but they recommend more like 2x a week, which will help only marginally).

The visible blue-red light dermalux/clearlight solution is in my experience far superior, but quite expensive (about £200/$350), and tanless (hence some makeup would still be needed, since it only erradicates *most* of the acne anyway) and it doesn't always work for everyone anyway.

Use tanning if you have to, but use it *sparingly*- it really does seem to make acne worse in everything but the shorterm. And the tan inevitably fades... and the acne nearly always comes back.

[Hatin'It]

Ok, first since u have fair skin, it'd probably just make u red all over. I find tanning helps me because I'm darker complected and it only takes 1 or 2 sessios 4 improvment. If u really want 2 try it, there r new tanning booths that mist self tanner on u 2 look like a real tan. It would have the same effect of covering up instead of makeup, but if u can find something that works 4 u instead of tanning then I'd go with that. U have beautiful skin and it's hard 2 keep pale skin look flawless.