Tiny goggles with pencil eraser-sized lenses. Ultrabake lotion. Purple light rays surrounding the body.

This isn’t punishment; this is tanning.

Lindsay Gilliam, a freshman in architecture, said she had a terrible experience with tanning beds.

“Last year I was diagnosed with melonoma skin cancer,” she said. “The doctors told me it was tanning bed-induced, and that I’m no longer allowed to lay in them.”

Gilliam said she just liked being tan and laid in the beds occasionally before a big occasion or during the winter.

“I didn’t even lay that much,” she said. “All my friends did it.”

Gilliam said she still lays out in the sun when she goes to the beach but always lathers on sunscreen before she does and uses the appropriate SPF.

“If you ever notice odd freckling or a mole that looks different or just wasn’t there before, you should get it checked out,” Gilliam said. “The doctors told me if I would have waited much longer, the cancer would have spread.”

But skin damage doesn’t only happen in the tanning bed.

Marianne Turnbull, director of Health Promotion in the Student Health Center, said the best thing students can do for safety is cover as much skin as possible when exposed to the sun and always wear sunscreen. She also said many younger people don’t realize the damage the sun can do to eyes and skin if they are not protected.

“Midlife is when people really start to see and feel the reprocutions of sun damage and don’t think about what it will do when [they’re] younger,” Turnbull said.

Turnbull also said with current global warming issues, people who tan “just for the sake of sunning” must realize that the ozone is depleting, and the harmful rays aren’t being filtered quite the way they should and used to be.

“Think how much it ages your skin. People are going to live longer, but what will your skin look like when you’re 70 and still vivacious? You also have to consider your skin type and how much sun you can handle,” Turnbull said.

Lorren Overcash, sophomore in animal science, said she has a similar viewpoint on tanning.

“I don’t tan because I have fair skin, and I burn too easily. My skin seems healthy now, but if I continue burning, my skin will be wrinkly and gross in twenty years,” she said. “Once you lay in tanning beds, your skin won’t be the same.”

Turnbull said the Health Center will glady accept appointments for students to get checked for signs of suspicious sun damage and said she encourages everyone to do as Gilliam suggested.

“The appointments are free, and it’s so much better to get it looked at than to guess and be wrong,” Turnbull said.

Julia Claiborne, a sophomore in textile and apparel management, said she tans in another way.

“I tried out spray tanning. It was interesting and only took about 60 seconds to get sprayed,” Claiborne said.

She said it wasn’t quite the same as tanning outside, but similar.

“It looked natural; the only difference I could see was I didn’t freckle like I normally do. You just have to be sure to clean it off well afterwards. I didn’t, and it stained my feet,” she said.

There are various ways to tan, from spray tanning and lotions, to the tanning bed, to the natural sunlight. Whatever method explored, be sure to take proper safety precautions.