Tanning beds emit up to 12 times more UVA radiation than natural sunlight, so protecting your skin during a session requires deliberate steps before, during, and after. You can’t eliminate the risks of indoor tanning entirely, but you can reduce unnecessary damage to your skin, eyes, and sensitive areas with the right preparation.
Why Tanning Beds Require Extra Caution
Tanning beds produce a concentrated dose of UV radiation in a short window of time. About 98% of that radiation is UVA, the type that penetrates deeper into the skin and accelerates aging, while contributing less to vitamin D production than the UVB rays you get from the sun. People who use tanning beds have roughly 2.85 times the risk of developing melanoma compared to people who never use them. That statistic comes from research comparing over 400 tanning bed users to a matched control group, where melanoma rates were 5.1% versus 2.1%.
None of this means you can’t take steps to lower the harm. But it does explain why every layer of protection matters.
Prepare Your Skin Before the Session
Gently exfoliate 24 to 48 hours before your tanning session. Removing dead skin cells gives UV light a more even surface to work with, which means fewer patchy spots and a tan that lasts longer. Use a mild scrub or exfoliating cloth rather than anything with harsh acids, since freshly irritated skin is more vulnerable to UV damage.
Moisturize well in the days leading up to your session. Hydrated skin tans more evenly and is less prone to peeling afterward. Focus on dry areas like elbows, knees, ankles, and the tops of your hands, which tend to absorb UV unevenly.
Check Your Medications First
Certain common medications make your skin dramatically more sensitive to UV radiation. The FDA lists antibiotics (including tetracycline and doxycycline), oral contraceptives, estrogen-based therapies, and several other drug classes as photosensitizing. If you’re taking any of these, a standard tanning session can cause severe burns, blistering, or rashes that wouldn’t happen otherwise. Check the label of any medication you take regularly for sun sensitivity warnings before stepping into a tanning bed.
Use the Right Lotion
Indoor tanning lotions and outdoor sunscreens are not interchangeable. Outdoor products contain SPF to block UV rays, which defeats the purpose of a tanning bed. Indoor tanning lotions contain no SPF. Instead, they’re formulated to accelerate melanin production, hydrate your skin during the session, and help you develop color faster in a controlled UV environment.
Using the right indoor lotion does two things: it keeps your skin from drying out under intense UV exposure, and it helps you achieve results in less time, which means you can keep sessions shorter. Ask the tanning salon for a professional-grade indoor lotion rather than using a generic moisturizer or, worse, nothing at all. Dry skin reflects UV light, leading to uneven results and more time under the lamps to compensate.
Protect Your Eyes Every Time
This is non-negotiable. The American Academy of Ophthalmology warns that tanning beds can produce UV levels up to 100 times what you’d get from the sun, and that intensity can damage both the external and internal structures of your eyes. Closing your eyes or placing a towel over your face does not block enough UV radiation to protect you.
Without proper goggles, you risk photokeratitis, which is essentially a sunburn on the surface of your eye. It causes pain, tearing, blurred vision, and sensitivity to light that can last for days. Repeated exposure without protection can lead to cataracts and even cancer in the tissue layer beneath the white of the eye. FDA regulations require tanning facilities to provide protective goggles. Wear them for the entire session, every session, no exceptions.
Shield Tattoos and Sensitive Areas
UV radiation breaks down tattoo ink over time, and the concentrated exposure in a tanning bed accelerates that fading significantly. Bright colors like red, yellow, and purple fade faster than black or dark tones. To protect your tattoos, apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher directly over the inked area before your session. This is the one situation where SPF belongs in a tanning bed. Tattoo protection sticks are also available and are specifically formulated for this purpose.
If you have a fresh tattoo that’s still healing, cover it completely with a bandage, wrap, or medical tape. Healing skin is extremely vulnerable to UV damage, and exposing a new tattoo to tanning bed radiation can cause irritation, infection risk, and permanent damage to the ink.
Your lips lack the melanin that gives the rest of your skin some baseline UV protection. Use a lip balm with SPF 30 or higher before every session. The same goes for any other sensitive areas: nipples, surgical scars, and skin that’s recently been treated with chemical peels or retinoids should all be covered or shielded.
Control Your Session Length
More time in the bed does not mean a better tan. It means more cumulative UV damage. Start with the shortest session your salon offers, typically around 5 to 8 minutes for fair skin, and increase gradually. Your skin needs time between sessions to produce melanin, so tanning for 20 minutes on day one won’t give you a deeper result. It will give you a burn.
Space sessions at least 48 hours apart. This gives your skin time to recover and develop color from the previous exposure. Tanning every day compounds UV damage without meaningfully improving your results. Most salons will recommend three sessions per week at most, and even that pace adds up quickly in terms of cumulative exposure.
Pay attention to the salon’s equipment, too. FDA regulations require all tanning beds to have an accurate timer, an emergency stop control, and an exposure schedule posted for the specific lamps in that unit. If the bed you’re using doesn’t have a visible timer or the staff can’t tell you the recommended exposure time for your skin type, that’s a red flag.
Care for Your Skin After the Session
Your skin is mildly stressed after any UV exposure, even if you don’t see redness. Apply a hydrating lotion or aloe-based moisturizer within 30 minutes of your session. This helps lock in moisture, reduces peeling, and extends the life of your tan. Avoid hot showers immediately after tanning, as heat can dry out your skin further and intensify any irritation.
Drink water. UV exposure dehydrates your skin from the inside, and staying well-hydrated helps your skin recover and maintain an even tone. In the hours after tanning, skip products with retinol, glycolic acid, or other active exfoliants. These ingredients increase skin sensitivity and can cause irritation on freshly tanned skin.
If you notice any unusual moles, spots that change shape or color, or patches of skin that don’t heal, get them checked. Regular UV exposure of any kind increases your baseline risk, and catching changes early is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself long-term.