INDIANAPOLIS -- As spring break and the summer season quickly approach, tanning bed businesses are teeming with Hoosiers eager to get a jumpstart on a darker shade.

Drawbacks to tanning are well-documented, primarily the risk of skin cancer, but tanning advocates insist there are many benefits.

"I like the way it makes me feel, the way it makes me look," said Brooklyn Hardebeck. "I feel better about myself when I tan."

Key West Tanning in Elwood touts that tanning makes people feel better because it boosts levels of Vitamin D, a claim that is backed up medically.

"That's how old men used to get most of his Vitamin D, through sun exposure and UVB," said Dr. Lawrence Mark, chief of dermatology at Wishard Memorial Hospital.

Angie Kleyla and her daughter are hitting the tanning bed in preparation for a trip to Key West, Fla.

"We're going to get a base tan. That way we won't burn," Kleyla said, but that assertion is incorrect.

Having a base tan doesn't prevent sunburn, and tanning frequently ages skin.

"You get about an SPF of 4 out of having a tan. So, that's really not enough," Mark said. "Chronic tanning does lead to significant age effects -- wrinkles, leathery skin, darkening of the the skin that doesn't ever go away."

Regardless of proven issues brought on by tanning, some think the benefits outweigh the costs.

"I feel like so many things can cause health problems ... and I've never had a problem," Hardebeck said. "I've been tanning for a long time."