Hot or Not—Evaluating the Effect of Artificial Tanning on the Public's Perception of Attractiveness

• Published in: Dermatologic surgery 2010-11, Vol.36 (11), p.1651-1655
• Main Authors: CHUNG, VINH Q., GORDON, JUSTIN S., VELEDAR, EMIR, CHEN, SUEPHY C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Beauty; Biological and medical sciences; Dermatology; Female; Humans; Medical sciences; Perception; Skin Pigmentation - radiation effects; Skin plastic surgery; Sunbathing - psychology; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Ultraviolet Rays; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1076-0512; 1524-4725
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1524-4725.2010.01713.x

BACKGROUND Despite strong evidence that sun exposure causes skin cancer, a significant proportion of the population continues to purposefully tan. Many individuals deliberately tan because they believe a tanned complexion makes them appear more attractive. OBJECTIVE To measure the effect that a tanned complexion has on the public's perception of attractiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty‐five women aged 21 to 35 were recruited. A digital photograph was taken of each subject. Each image was uploaded onto a public website until it had been rated at least 100 times on a scale from 1 to 10. An average baseline, or untanned, rating of the image was calculated. The image was then given an artificial tan using a skin tanning protocol available for Adobe Photoshop. The tanned image was then re‐uploaded onto the website and another average rating was calculated using the same criteria. RESULTS The mean score±standard deviation was 6.3±2.3 for the untanned images and 6.5±2.3 for the tanned images (p