BEST LAMPS FOR FAIR SKINNED

[Ginger]

All of my beds have higher UVB than UVA. What's the best type of lamp for people with fair skin & can they tan in the beds with higher UVB after they get a base & be happy?Thanks!Sun City Tans

[Don Smith]

Ginger:I'm not sure what you mean when you say your sunbeds have more UVB than UVA. If you could clarify this statement, it would help.Let's start with the sun. The "reference" sun (measured at noon on 6/21 at a specific spot at the equator) has approximately 4% UVB, 3% UVA-2 and 93% UVA-1. Therefore, it is only logical that solar simulators (tanning lamps) should "mimic" this "reference" sun as much as possible.There are a number of excellent low pressure (LP) lamps available. These lamps are the flourescent "tube" type lamps and it might be wise for us here in the USA to use the term "tubes" like they do in Europe to describe these lamps. In case you do not know, the reason they are called "low pressure" lamps is because the atmosphere inside the "tube" is evacuated until there is a low pressure invironment that is conducive to the electron transfer when the lamp lights.High pressure (HP), or quartz lamps, on the other hand, must use "blue glass" filters to remove unwanted wavelengths. Typically, a HP system will remove all but approximately 0.5% UVB, 1.5% UVA-2 and, therefore, provide 98% UVA-1.UVB (280 - 320 nm)and UVA-2 (320 - 340 nm)act differently biologically than does UVA-1. UVB/UVA-2 (280 - 340 nm)stimulate the production of melanin, stimulate the production of vitamin D and are immunosuppressive. They also are the wavelengths that have the highest erythemal (sunburning) power.UVA-2 wavelengths (320 - 340 nm) have been associated with solar elastosis, which is photoaging of the skin. UVA-1 (340 - 400 nm)wavelengths oxidize the melanin produced to induce the "cosmetic" tan that we help our clients develop and maintain. UVA-1 wavelengths are highly immunostimulatory and have much less power to cause a sunburn.Therefore, in my opinion, tanning salon owners should use lamps that "mimic" the output of the "reference" sun. Fortunately, there are a number of excellent lamps that have 5 - 7% UVB/UVA-2 and 93 - 95% UVA-1.Hope this helps. Don

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[jcole]

Don, If you need some small graphs made to help make a point or go along with an excellent technical post, feel free to contact me, we can make the graph and post it on TanTalk too.------------------John Cole [IMG]http://www.hsv.net/wb/jcole/solarsoft.gif]

[Ginger]

Thank you Don for your post. It was very informative! I was told that my lamps (or tubes) have more UVB than UVA & my clients would love them. I was also told that fair skinned people need more UVA than UVB, so I wanted to make sure I had that available in the next purchase I make. I will go by your suggestion & mimic the sun with the ratio you stated.Thanks again!Sun City Tans

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[Don Smith]

Ginger/John:I've got to go open a store and earn my pay (or Pat will replace me with a younger man) so I'll provide some more information this evening.Perhaps we can have an on line "Lamp University" (i.e., 102, 103,104, etc) if it would be of interest to the readers of this forum.DonNote to John: In what format should I send the "raw" data for you to make charts and tables?

[Ginger]

Don,That would be wonderful! I want to give my clients the best that I can give them & anything I can learn will only help me to be a good salon owner.Thanks!Ginger

[jcole]

Don, Email the data in text, excel, access, or whatever. I should be able to sort it out. Just make sure I don't need to retype the data (less mistakes that way). Also, if you have a certain type of graph in mind, colors, legend and axis labels, the more info the better. I'll email you all the graphs before posting them, so you can make sure I got them correct.------------------John Cole [IMG]http://www.hsv.net/wb/jcole/solarsoft.gif]

[Don Smith]

Ginger:First of all, we must define the terms we will all be using to describe tanning lamps. That way, we can all "sing out of the same song book" and standardize lamp terminology.1. MTI = Maximum Timer Interval. This is the maximum amount of time that the sunbed manufacturer can allow the sunbed to be used.2. MED/hour. Denotes the number of MED's per hour delivered by a given sunbed/lamp combination which we will call the "tanning system" for clarity.3. MED/minute. Calculated by dividing the MED/hour by 60.4. Time to 4.0 MED. (t-4.0) This is calculated by dividing 4.0 MED by the MED/minute value for the tanning system.(Example: 12.0/hr divided by 60 = 0.2 MED/minute. 4.0 divided by 0.2 20minutes to reach 4.0 MED.5. MTI : t-40 Ratio. MTI = 20 / t-40 = 20 which gives us a 20 : 20 Ratio. This means that the tanning system will deliver 4.0 MED's in 20 minutes. The highest allowable according to current FDA guidelines would be 20 : 18 since manufacturers are allowed a + or - 10% allowance.5. MTI : t-40 Rating. This percentage is calculated by dividing the MTI by the t-4.0. In this case, it would be 100%.6. Time to 0.75 MED(t-0.75) This value is also know as the IST (Initial Session Time) and is calculated by dividing 0.75 MED by the MED/minute.(Example: 0.75 / .2 = 4 minutes)7. Time to 1.0 MED (t-1.0) This value is known as the MTE (sb) or Minutes To Erythema (sunburn). It is calculated by dividing 1.0 MED by the MED/minute.(Example: 1.0 / .2 = 5 minutes)Therefore, in these examples we would have a lamp that would cause erythema (sunburn) in 5 minutes, the IST would be 4 minutes and the lamp would reach the maximum allowable UVR irradiation (t-4.0) in 20 minutes.All of us, over the next year, will become very familiar with these terms as they become used universally. Then, we will be able to see that one lamp in a given sunbed may yield a 20 : 24 reading and another a 20 : 20. A salon owner who has this information available can decide the optimal lamp to use in her/his tanning salon. For instance, if you had a college store (like we do) you might want the 20 : 24 lamp to have a little larger "margin of error" while in a performance oriented market you might wnat the 20 : 20 lamp. The key is for the tanning salon owner to have the information required to make an intelligent decision.In the next installment, I will cover the concept of the "tanning system" and the importance of the ballasts used.Let me know if this information is helpful and/or if I am explaining it so that all of you reading this information can understand easily understand it.Don

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[Ginger]

Don,Thanks for the info! We all need to know as much as we can about how everything works together. I'm sure it will take a while for some of us (me) to understand completely & put it all in prospective, but this is a lesson I need so that I can run my salon the best that it can be run.Thanks again for your time & knowledge!GingerSun City Tans

[Don Smith]

Ginger:Two or three years ago a company came out with an ingenious sunbed that I will describe to set the stage for this discussion. This sunbed had 28 lamps and the salon owner could select the MTI (maximum timer interval) for the unit. That means that it could be a 10, 15, 20 or 30 minute MTI depending upon the lamps that were used. IF the unit would have had 30 or 32 lamps instead of 28, we would have most certainly considered purchasing this unit.The beauty of this unit was that a salon owner could have installed it as a 30 minute MTI unit and later change it to a 20 or 15 minute unit if conditions changed OR made one unit a 10 minute MTI if necessary.One of these days a smart manufacturer will pick up on this concept and take over the market!The deciding factor about the MTI in a tanning system (sunbed and lamp) is (1) the ballast used, and, (2) the lamp selected.1. The ballast can either be a "choke" or a "rapid start" and there are sunbeds currently available that use both. Listed below are the choices. (John: perhaps you can put this info into a "pretty" chart.)# Choke Rapid Start Lamp1. 80 w 800 MA 80 watt2. 100 w 1000 MA 100 watt3. n/a 1210 MA 120 watt4. 140 w 1500 MA 140 watt5. 160 w 1500 MA 160 watt6. 200 w 2130 MA 200 wattTherefore, if we have a tanning platform that has either 100 w choke or 1000 MA rapid start ballasts, we can have a 10, 15, 20 or 30 minute MET (maximum exposure time) system by selecting the appropriate lamp.If we have 100 w choke (or 1000 MA rapid start) ballasts powering the bench and 160 w choke (or 1500 MA rapid start) ballasts in the canopy, we would have a "hybrid system with 100 watt lamps in the bench and 160 watt lamps in the canopy. Once again, the actual MET would vary depending upon the lamp selected. USUALLY it is the canopy lamp that determines the MET because, even if the same lamp/ballast combination is used, the "thicker" acrylic in the bench means that there will be less UVR "transmitted" (%T) in the bench than in the canopy. However, IF a sunbed had a lamp in the bench that took 10 minutes to reach 4.0 MED (t-4.0) and a lamp that took 20 minutes to reach t-4.0 in the canopy, it would be a 10 minute system, not a 20 minute system. The important thing to remember is that the sunbed itself is nothing but an expensive (and attractive) lamp holder. It is the lamp selected that determines the t-4.0.The next "installment" will cover the use of hand-held radiometers.Don

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