Why, despite guaranteed wrinkles and cancer risks, would 30 million Americans visit tanning salons each year?

Because many of them are addicted − literally − to UV. Humor writer David Sedaris was going for the laugh when he dubbed his aggressively sun-kissed sister a "tanorexic" in his 2000 memoir, Me Talk Pretty One Day, as if her greatest affliction were vanity. Now part of the modern lexicon, the term clearly and aptly evokes "anorexia" — which is no laughing matter. Undeterred by skyrocketing skin cancer statistics (the most common cancer affecting women ages 25 to 29) and UV's indisputable aging effects, tan extremists chase the sunbaked look 365 days a year. "Until five years ago, I didn't pick up sunblock," admits Katherine Bell, 30, a grad student from Pittsburgh, who favored baby oil instead. Even when her husband called out her "fried to a crisp" face after a week in the Bahamas, "it took years to modify my psychotic bronzing behavior. The rush I got from tanning was 100 percent addictive." This rush is just what the latest medical findings are confirming: that frequent tanning is ...  more