Jersey Mom Takes Extreme Tanning To Scary Limit: We Can All Learn Something

We certainly don't wish to make Jersey mom Patricia Krentcil the poster child for extreme tanning. But maybe, we can all learn something from this.

The 44-year-old New Jersey woman was hauled into court yesterday for allegedly sneaking her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning salon. Her attorney denies the charges.

As you can tell by the photo, Patricia Krentcil likes to tan-- a lot! In fact, she hits the indoor tanning booth 5 days a week at the maximum and spends $100 a month there.

This poor woman has now become the butt of many late night TV jokes, and yeah, we DO feel sorry for her and her family.

We don't wish her any ill will. We only wish she would take better care of her skin, because at age 44, time is running out.

We all know about the dangers of too much sun and the indoor tanning booths that help you achieve that golden glow no matter what the weather is doing all-year-long.

And BeautyTipToday is certainly not here to judge. We did our own sun damage years ago, when we spent our childhood/adolescence EVERY summer at our grandparents' house-by-the-beach We are paying for it now.

We have friends and relatives who worship the tanning rays of the sun, both indoors and outdoors. And they look healthy and golden brown.

We can't help but shudder though, when we read this in the NY Daily News:

...."Going to a tanning salon even just one time is dangerous. Tanning booths are considered a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization. This is the same category that plutonium is put in!"

Those words by Dr. Joshua Zeichner, director of cosmetic and clinical research in the dermatology department at Mount Sinai Medical Center.

And here's a bit more information from another respected NYC plastic surgeon, Robert Tornambe, M.D.:

"The primary culprit causing melanoma(skin cancer) is UV light from the sun or tanning beds," he explains. "Research shows indoor tanning increases a person's melanoma risk by 75 percent! Anyone can get melanoma, but there is a higher incidence in people with fair skin, sun-sensitive skin (tends to burn rather than tan) and a family history of the disease. Five or more sunburns during your lifetime double your risk of developing skin cancer. 80 percent of lifetime sun damage occurs during childhood."