It is all too common for dermatologists to suggest that patients with psoriasis or vitiligo go to tanning salons to see if it helps improve their condition. While this used to be a marginally viable treatment option, very few people see any results today. Unfortunately, their doctors often use the lack of a positive skin response as confirmation that phototherapy is simply ineffective for those patients… which generally leads to the next step; TNF Inhibitors (AKA: "Biologicals" & "Systemics" like Enbrel, Raptiva or Humira). While these truly can be miracle drugs for those with no better option, and whose condition is severe enough to justify the risk for serious adverse side effects, a large percentage who are taking now them would likely see positive results if they were able to use a real phototherapy system.

The reason for this misconception about tanning systems and any therapeutic benefits for treating skin conditions is simple; it used to be somewhat accurate. When tanning salons first became popular, the quality of the lamps used were relatively poor in that they emitted a lot of UVB light with the UVA that’s needed to tan. For this reason, it was not uncommon for users to get burned with tanning systems that had the older lamps. This undesirable side effect for tanning customers was precisely what was beneficial for medical patients. 

Today’s higher quality lamps have reduced the amount of UVB produced by tanning systems to virtually nothing – an amount that is almost always far below what’s needed for the desired therapeutic response. The quality of medical UVB lamps has also improved greatly. Today’s Narrowband UVB lamps, in particular, are incredibly precise; they only emit light in the color range that has proved to be the most effective within a few nanometers.

This means the old-school advice for patients to seek medical benefits from commercial tanning systems is flawed. Most dermatologists are probably not aware of this, because most are against tanning at all – whether through commercial tanning systems or simply spending time outside in the Sun.

True phototherapy, like that obtained with medical UVB lighting systems from UVBioTek, is simply too effective for too many people to be so casually written off as "ineffective" before it has even been tried. Patients need to be clear with their doctors about this if they wish to avoid the risks and costs associated with even proper use of TNF Inhibitors. Again, such medications are absolutely critical for many people, but a large number of them could be seeing results from phototherapy that are as good, if not better, than the improvements those drugs have provided.

So, if you have a condition that’s UVB phototherapy-treatable, the only effect you should expect to get from a tanning system is your skin getting darker. If you want your skin to get better, make sure you and your doctor both understand the difference. Remember that your doctor’s interest is always in helping you to get better, they may simply be unaware that it is no longer effective.

While UVB phototherapy will not be the best solution for everybody, it has to be a better solution for a vast number of patients. Make sure both you and your doctor know this before concluding that phototherapy is not effective for your condition… because it usually is.