Kim Kardashian has defended using tanning beds, claiming it helps her psoriasis condition.
The 43-year-old Skims founder jumped on the “obvious” video trend and gave a TikTok video tour of his Sknn by Kim office, showing viewers a variety of items, including close-ups of the backs of custom mannequins. There's her size, a 3D model of her brain on her desk, and a tanning bed within her office.
At one point in the video, she leans back on a tanning bed and says: “I’m Kim Kardashian. Of course I have a tanning bed and a red light bed in my office.”
Allure Magazine took issue with Kardashian co-signing a tanning bed and pleaded with
kardashian then responded to attractiveness'S A post defending her use of a tanning bed. “I have psoriasis and this really helps when I have bad psoriasis,” the reality TV star wrote. “But I don’t use it too often.”
According to the National Institute of Health, tanning beds are a widely used treatment for psoriasis, but were also classified as carcinogens by the World Health Organization in 2009. Despite providing phototherapy that emits ultraviolet B (UVB) light, tanning beds primarily emit ultraviolet rays. A (UVA) light can be incredibly harmful.
Tanning beds may increase your risk of skin cancer. Under UVA light, benign moles can turn into cancer. Additionally, according to the Mayo Clinic, people are 65 percent more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer caused primarily by exposure to UV radiation from the sun or tanning beds.
“Just one visit to a tanning salon significantly increases your chances of developing cancer, which can lead to death,” warns the Skin Cancer Foundation. Although tanning beds may temporarily relieve Kardashian's symptoms, she ultimately puts herself at a higher risk for skin cancer.
Kardashian has long been candid about her struggle with psoriasis, which can cause noticeable red, scaly patches on the skin, and documented her diagnosis in a 2011 episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Over the years, she has shared how she copes with the condition.
“I try to eat as many anti-inflammatory and antioxidant foods as possible,” she said on her sister Kourtney’s Poosh lifestyle blog. She adds that if changing your diet doesn't help, creams and ointments are used to relieve symptoms. “I find that applying ointment or cream to the sore area and wrapping it in saran wrap helps,” she said. But obviously that’s only possible in certain areas.”
Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease and is considered the most common autoimmune disease in the United States, affecting approximately 8 million Americans, according to the National Psoriasis Foundation.