Stupid People Tricks

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Well Done

Sometimes it is a bride trying to get that healthy glow for the special day and other times it is a bridesmaid (trying to outshine an ugly dress) but they want a tan and they want it fast. So they disobey the frequency and/or time limits on tanning and cook themself to death.

Debunked: Woman frequents tanning salons; develops funny smell; innards cooked!

Sometimes it kills them and sometime they have to have body parts amputated. See "Curses! Broiled Again" pages 29-36 in the book of the same title. Even Dear Abby has debunked this one.

Documented: You can burn yourself to death in a tanning salon if you are taking certain drugs that make the skin more photosensitive.

The Alaska site cited below list deaths where patients were taking psoralen, 8-methoxypsoralen and canthaxanthin. The first of these was widely publicized including an AP story. Most of these appear to be treatments for psoraisis gone horibly awry. In Wisconsin in 1987 more than 100 people were reportedly treated in emergency rooms for first degree burns caused by tanning lamps in salons or at home.

References:

• The UL in the wild
• Tanning in Alaska
• CDC Wisconsin Article