Diagnosis of the Day: 'Tanorexia'

The New Jersey woman accused of bringing her 5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth is, in the diplomatic words of AP, "deeply tanned." A dermatologist writing in the Daily News isn't so diplomatic about Patricia Krentcil's appearance. "In all my years of treating patients as a dermatologist, I have never encountered anything like this," writes Dr. Joshua Zeichner (who doesn't treat Krentcil). He suspects she suffers from "tanorexia," or an addiction to tanning.

Given all that is known about the dangers of tanning, her 20-days-a-month habit "is insane," he adds. ABC News quotes another dermatologist who also diagnoses tanorexia from afar (spelled this time as "tanerexia"), in which people "just don't realize just how much color they have." Krentcil denies bringing her daughter into a booth, and the tanning salon's owner backs her up in an interview with the local Nutley Sun. He also suspect's that Krentcil's even darker appearance in TV interviews, after her court appearance, is probably the result of her applying a self-tanning product. For now, Krentcil is claiming she's the victim of a witch hunt, TMZ reports. (More tanorexia stories.)