Gen Z Is Using the UV Index to Find the Best Times to Tan. Here's Why That's a Really Bad Idea.

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

There is a generation that was practically raised in SPF 50. Stroller awnings rated UPF 50+, rash guards at the beach, mineral sunscreen applied before leaving the house — Gen Z had sun safety drilled into them early. And now, according to Women's Health Magazine, they're ignoring all of it. Not out of ignorance, exactly. Out of intention.

A new American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) survey found that one-third of Americans reported a sunburn in 2025, with Gen Z logging the most severe cases — bad enough to disrupt sleep, cause skin discomfort, and prompt genuine embarrassment. The same cohort also performed worst on the AAD's sun safety quiz, with a third receiving a D or F, even as two-thirds of all respondents rated their own knowledge as "good" or "excellent." The gap between what people think they know and what they actually know is, medically speaking, a problem. But the behavior driving it is even more troubling: Gen Z is using the UV index — a scale measuring ultraviolet radiation intensity — to schedule tanning sessions. "They've got it completely backward," says Dr. Susan C. Taylor, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and former AAD president. A high UV index is a warning to seek shade, not a green light to lay out.

A Tan Is Just a Scar You Find Pretty

Here is what dermatologists want to make viscerally clear: a tan is not a glow, it's a wound response. "Think of a sunburn as a total body scab," Dr. Taylor says. And even without a burn, UV rays are doing damage at the cellular level. "Your skin's defense is to produce melanin," explains New York City dermatologist Dr. Ellen Marmur. "Any time we see a tan, that's your skin telling you it's been hurt." Research shows one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime, and just five sunburns more than doubles the risk of melanoma — the deadliest form. Tanning beds, which Gen Z is quietly returning to, are classified as Group 1 carcinogens alongside tobacco and asbestos.

The long-term aesthetic case isn't landing either, despite a generation deeply invested in skincare. Frequent sun exposure leads to wrinkles, brown spots, melasma, and broken capillaries — often surfacing years later when the connection to teenage tanning feels abstract. "Every time you put on sun protection, you're saving money on expensive lasers and injectables in the future," Dr. Marmur says. But delayed consequences rarely win against immediate gratification, especially when TikTok is serving bronzed content at scale. Nearly half of all Americans — and 64 percent of Gen Z specifically — have encountered sunscreen misinformation online, and more than a third of Gen Z cites influencers, not doctors, as their primary skincare source. "There's a general suspicion of science right now, and therefore, sun protection," Dr. Marmur notes.

The path forward, dermatologists argue, isn't more warning labels — it's reframing the message entirely. Self-tanners, bronzers, and smart sun habits can deliver the aesthetic without the cellular damage. Influencers and celebrities have the reach to shift the trend. And real stories from young people navigating skin cancer diagnoses and disfiguring surgeries may cut through where statistics haven't. "All we can do is keep talking," says Dr. Taylor.

A tan fades in two weeks; the DNA damage it leaves behind does not.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.