[TiredGuy]

How much damage does it do compared to, say, sitting in the summer sun for 20 minutes?

Also makes me curious about those UV teeth-whitening devices and whether there is any similar research for them. I don't know how valid such a concern would be, but it seems reasonable to assume that the skin inside the mouth wasn't designed to be exposed to UV as much as skin on the outside of the body, so I wonder if it's more susceptible to damage from that type of thing.

[blacksmith_tb]

It doesn't seem like a surprising result, I agree, though it also wouldn't be too hard for people to wear opaque gloves that covered most of their hands in the machine (unlike the tooth whiteners). My instinct is that if it was extremely bad for us there would be a surprising spike in skin cancers of the hands, but I suppose since hands are exposed to sunlight almost as much as faces, it might be hard to make the connection to nail salons.

[zachruss92]

Yea the face and hands are typically the first bodyparts to show skin "aging" which is now more commonly thought to be preventable (mostly) with moisturizing, Retonol, and sunscreen.

There are UV protecting gloves put there. I wonder how effective they are though? I know UPF fabric shirts definitely stop me from getting burned when fishing.

[Karawebnetwork]

This is a good question indeed. Using a LED lamp, it takes 30 seconds to dry one hand.

The one I own has 4 settings: 10, 30, 60 and 100 seconds.

They last for 2 to 3 weeks.

I wonder how much damage happens from exposing your fingers for 30 seconds every 2-3 weeks.

I'm thinking there could be some risks for technicians who spend their days next to the devices, but devices usually don't leak any light.

[zachruss92]

Not a scientist but I'd imagine more because it's a lot of radiation focused on a very small area.

With DNA damage being cumulative I'd imagine the DNA repair systems can't keep up with that many molecular lesions at once.

[pengaru]

Aren't they using UV blasts on fast-hardening resins in tooth repair as well?

[benj111]

That's a one off thing though.

Akin to getting an x-ray v living to close to Chernobyl.