Northampton practitioner backs calls for a ban on sunbeds
Leading cancer doctors have called for an outright ban on sunbeds in the UK, warning that the tanning devices cause cancer.
Last updated 3rd Oct 2025
Experts are calling for a ban on sunbeds saying tanning facilities are linked to areas where there are higher rates of skin cancer among young adults, particularly women.
Current regulations are "ineffective" and have had "little effect" on tanning bed use by young people, they added.
A new analysis piece, published in The BMJ, concludes that an outright ban is "likely to be cost effective for the NHS".
Professor Paul Lorigan, a melanoma expert at The Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, and colleagues, highlight how indoor tanning is experiencing a "boom in popularity, particularly among Gen Z", after social media posts suggest the use of the tanning devices are linked to wellness.
28% of the UK public use sunbeds
That's something an advanced cosmetic practitioner from Northampton agrees with.
Larissa Warren - founder of the Expert Skin Clinic - has 20 years experience in the industry and is trained in how to spot cancers. Her clinic offers mole checks by using the Map My Mole service and she works alongside leading consultants that then remove cancers.
"I've moved to a health club, which is all about health, looking after your health, good food, exercise but I have discovered they have got a sunbed in the changing rooms, which people do use.
"So it's something that I need to have a meeting with them about to say, do you realise that this is actually going against what you're doing? You're building a community about health, but in another way you're encouraging people to give themselves health problems. We know that any tan means that it's skin trauma and skin damage, whether that's sunbeds or in the normal sun."
They highlight recent surveys that suggest up to 28% of the UK public use sunbeds, despite a 2009 ruling from the International Agency for Research on Cancer which said exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunbeds was carcinogenic, leading to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and other skin cancers.
The new analysis says sunbed use will "continue to add to the burden of these cancers" without action.
"Existing sunbed legislation is clearly ineffective, and there is little evidence that stricter rules would help protect those who are most vulnerable," they wrote.
Their paper highlights how there are more sunbed outlets in the north west and north east of England, and generally fewer in southern England.
And the distribution of sunbeds is similar to that of melanoma rates among young people, with the highest rates in northern England, they add.
In England there are 2,600 cases of melanoma in England among people aged 25-49 every year, two thirds of them women.
Skin caners appearing in people earlier
Larissa says she's seen increases in both basal cell carcinoma (BCC's) and the most dangerous melanoma in younger people, instead of people in their 60s and 70s:
"It's usually more 60s, 70s, 80s where you will see the BCC's they're from sun damage slow growing. But actually if you look at that age group now they didn't have as many they didn't have the sun beds like we did.
"I grew up in the era where suddenly sun beds were a thing. So I think we're now in an era where you'd expect to see it later in life, but anybody that's aged sort of 30, 40, even younger 20, it's like that's been the era of the sun beds."
She says many sunbed companies incorrectly advertise a suntan as being protective for the lighter skins, which is false.
Last month tanning firm Indigo Sun, was found by the Advertising Standards Authority to have made "irresponsible" claims that sunbed use reduced cancer and heart disease deaths.
Larissa had her own BCC removed from her forehead last year aged 39, at the same time her 75 year old father had one removed as well.
Researchers suggest regions in the north east and north west with high melanoma rates among 25-49 year olds are significantly correlated.
They highlight how even though teenagers are banned from using sunbeds in many countries, they still report high use.
They say that current regulation has "failed to prevent young people's use of sunbeds".
They conclude: "An immediate outright ban on commercial sunbeds alongside public education offers the most cost-effective solution to reduce skin cancer, save lives, and ease the burden on the NHS."
Larissa works alongside leading consultant dermatologist Doctor Toby Nelson, who is the founder of Map My Mole, which is a service used in at The Expert Skin Clinic where they screen for cancers.