Patricia Krentcil, 'Tanning Mom,' Bringing Attention To 'Tanorexia': How Dangerous Is It?

Patricia Krentcil, the New Jersey mom who is accused of letting her 5-year-old daughter go in a tanning booth, is pleading not guilty to the charges, according to news reports.

"My client is 150 percent innocent," Krentcil's attorney, John D. Caruso, told CBS News. "That child was never in that tanning booth."

The case is prompting new attention to "tanorexia" -- an addiction to tanning -- that some speculate Krentcil, 44, may have, ABC News reported. The owner of the tanning salon that Krentcil reportedly frequented said that the mom tanned about 20 times a month, and about five days a week.

Dermatologist Dr. Joshua Zeichner, of Mount Sinai Medical Center, explained the situation to the the New York Daily News:

Going to a tanning salon 20 times a month, frankly, is insane, especially with all of the public education and awareness campaigns on the dangers of tanning beds and skin cancers. It may be she has an addiction to tanning, which actually now has a name — tanorexia. She may need help to treat not only the damage to her skin, but also what is going on with her psychologically.

When a person tans, the skin undergoes cell damage from ultraviolet radiation (whether from the sun, or from a tanning bed). This radiation can lead to skin cancer, not to mention physical effects like wrinkles and brown spots, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

The Skin Cancer Foundation reported that indoor tanning is extremely dangerous, with indoor tanners having a 74 percent increased risk of developing melanoma, compared with people who've never set foot in an indoor tanning machine.

Tanning can actually be addictive, in that it produces brain chemicals called endorphins that provoke feelings of happiness, WebMD explained. The web publication cited a Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center study, showing that when these endorphins are blocked in people who frequently tan, they actually experience feelings of withdrawal like shakes and nausea.

"Addicts live in constant fear of fading," Dr. Amy Wechsler, New York-based dermatologist and psychiatrist, told WebMD. "Suddenly they feel fatter, older, even sicker. It explains the extremes they go to to keep it up."

TIME reported on a 2010 study in the journal Archives of Dermatology, which explored the link between tanning and addiction. The researchers found that every single one of the college students they surveyed who reported themselves as heavy tanning bed users knew about the skin cancer risks from tanning, yet 98 percent of them said that the knowledge of those risks didn't stop them from tanning.

"If tanning results in relaxation and reduced anxiety, this behavior would tend to be repeated -- similar to meditation or yoga for other people," Dr. Thomas Weigel, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, told TIME, adding, "there is logic to the correlation between 'tanning addiction' and anxiety."

For more on Krentcil's case, watch the ABC News video above.

From our partners

• 400 Healthy Recipes (That Won't Break The Bank) - greatist.com
• 8 Great Running Apps To Help You Train For Your Next Race - Shape Magazine
• 6 Reasons To Sleep At Least 7 Hours - Everyday Health

Comments

[soldamerican3]

02:41 PM on 07/22/2012

This is a free country people. Her dauther was not in the tanning booth .she was sitting there in the sitting area. PERIOD!

Get a life y'all!

[soldamerican3]

02:39 PM on 07/22/2012

White people are upset that she is not happy with being white? :)

[awilson70]

09:45 PM on 05/15/2012

Her mouth is very odd when she talks. Makes me wonder if it's due to the tan or if she has issues with her face. She makes odd faces and doesn't move her lips much.

[backspacerunner]

10:17 AM on 05/07/2012

What she looks like is my video game character from the game dark souls

[JBaker]

10:15 PM on 05/06/2012

Krentcil is only 44 years old? Her skin looks like old shoe leather and her hair like dry straw. Imagine what she will look like in ten years...

She is not inherently unattractive, but she is really ruining her looks. What a pity.

[peterghansonmd]

09:02 PM on 05/06/2012

Here is a great illustration of the perils of suntanning. Suntan beds are all bad, and virtually free of any benefits. And, for that matter, so is most direct sun on unprotected skin. My patients are reading more about the cosmetic as well as medical dangers of tanning at http://www.stressipedia.net/post/2012/05/03/Suntan-Bed-Dangers-the-Stupid-Light-is-ON.aspx

[MommaCat50]

08:57 PM on 05/06/2012

She looks too old to have a five year old! She looks old enough to be the kid's grandmother!! Jeez, lady, get addicted to spray tan!

[sweetpea4700]

01:23 PM on 05/06/2012

AND ONE MORE THING PAT STOP MAKING FUN OF FAT AND UGLY PEOPLE BECAUE YOU WILL BECOME FAT YOUR SELF AS FOR UGLY YOU CAN'T FIX THAT I AM SO SORRY FOR YOU AND YOU HUSBAND AND YOUR CHILDREN.

[Tom Rowland]

12:48 PM on 05/06/2012

does anyone have any idea what's up with the dark line under her mouth in the mugshot? Is that just a shadow, or what?

[sweetpea4700]

01:18 PM on 05/06/2012

no it a lip liner.

[Tom Rowland]

01:35 PM on 05/06/2012

REALLY?!! That's what I thought it was at first, then I thought "no, that looks too ridiculous to be intentional---especially on just one lip." But it is truly make-up, huh? I s'pose, though, that when she tans so much that she looks like a french fry that got stuck in the mesh of its dipping basket, and got dipped into boiling grease about 1000 times, she apparently doesn't have much sense when it comes to sprucing up her appearance...don't know why I shoulda been surprised.

[Helen Behd]

09:27 AM on 05/06/2012

From everything I've learned about this disorder I feel is stems from Body Dsymorphic disorder and of course, LOW SELF ESTEEM. Also, a tan does make you look better but it doesn't cure genetically ugly. Plastic surgery might be a better option.

[FisterraTravel]

10:57 AM on 05/06/2012

Really? That tan doesn't make you look better. I once thought that tanning would look better, I went to the tanning salon, and the (very nice) lady from salon had a tan which was let's say very tanned. I thought she was 20 years older than me, but it turned out she was 2 years older. I went once and now I stay just genetically healthy, and of course myself which is always good. Through my work I learned about serious forms of skin cancer, and that makes me understand even more how important it is to be healthy and not just loved for how you look while still alive. Once your gone, so is the tan, or the flesh around the plastic ..anything.

[sweetpea4700]

01:25 PM on 05/06/2012

SHE DOES NOT HAVE ANY SELF ESTEEM AT ALL SO FORGET ABOUT THAT. YOU KNOW WHAT COMING RIGHT HER OWN SHOW. SO WATCH OUT.

[marionfrances]

12:15 AM on 05/06/2012

You need eye makeup badly

[Bobloblaw6969]

09:30 PM on 05/05/2012

She looks like everyone in Nutley, NJ.

[sweetpea4700]

01:19 PM on 05/06/2012

come on she is the toast of the town lol

[sweetpea4700]

01:25 PM on 05/06/2012

REALLY THAT SAD.

[getalittlesneakpeek]

09:21 PM on 05/05/2012

really? do we need a term for everything?

how about some people are just stupid and make poor life choices.

-___-

[ewooddogs]

11:06 AM on 05/06/2012

I agree, every time someone is an idiot we have a medical term...we have not come up with one for stupid

[sweetpea4700]

01:19 PM on 05/06/2012

no just stupid.

[Hannahhh]

07:25 PM on 05/05/2012

You would think that Jersey Shore would've already brought attention to that.

[sweetpea4700]

01:25 PM on 05/06/2012

yes we do

[Sundae in the Park]

04:33 PM on 05/05/2012

I cracked up when I saw the picture of Patricia Krentcil's picture. If she isn't the spitting image of an old neighbor I had years ago...no one is. My neighbor and, I guess, Patricia think they look great with such a dark tan against blonde hair. NOT!!! She was the laughing stock of everyone that saw her. LIGHTEN UP, PAT!!!! LOLLOLLOL....

[sweetpea4700]

01:27 PM on 05/06/2012

do you remember something about mary the movie that were she got the idea.