Just watching "this morning" am horrified at the woman who has skin cancer because of sun beds.


Trish

Wasnt watching it but makes you realise how much damage it realy causes i used to use sunbeds for about one month then stopped.Wouldnt use them again x

There was a young woman in Australia recently who was campaigning against sun beds. She died of cancer not long before christmas.

Poor woman. And I say that because how must she feel to know that she caused It.

I have very pale skin that burns and I remember a lady from a tanning salon trying to talk me Into handing over my money to burn myself on one of her beds!
She said I would be fine, wouldn't burn a bit. I said ok I'll go on but If I burn I don't pay! She didn't agree 'cos she knew I would.

I always say I'd rather be pale than end up with wrinkles and cancer.

Very true! But my saying is id rather have a spray tan than get cancer and wrinkles and moles xx

Well I've to be converted yet. White/orange?? I'm scared!

I would rather be pale, interesting & alive than brown and dead!

Trish

Hi
I did see this on This morning, truly though what did she expect, she went on It for 1 hour at a time, for 14days ?? uh Its no wonder this has happenend.

I have a sunbed In my salon, Under no circumstances I allow them to go on more than 3 times a week, my times are 3min 6 and max 9. Also encourage them to use products to protect them and to maintain a nice tan rather than a leather or tango look and I always ask relevant questions, moles, skin type etc .. all my staff are educated to do the same. They sign a disclaimer before useing them.
people have a choice and can decide for themself, I have turned customers away, lost money but safety must come first. I disagree with banning them however i think owners of sunbeds should be educated and stick to strict guidelines. spot checks wouldnt hurt to make sure correct procedures are being inputted.
TT

You sound like a very responsible person turkishtart but there are a lot of people who run tanning salons or have beds in salons who are not responsible at all. I am sure far more people get skin damage from the sun than from sun-beds.

I just wish that more people were like you and had your sensible and responsible attitude.

Trish

hi i want to go on sunbeds but really scared of the cancer bit i would only go on 2 times a week doing 9 mins would that be ok, as i have a big mole on my bk

I didn't see 'This morning' but I do worry about it, I used to own a double canopy sun bed for about 8 years from my late teens to mid 20s and was on it alot, there wasn't quite so much awareness when I first got it 13 years ago. I worry about it now though an often think about getting skin cancer.
I do love the sun though and when on holiday am always sun bathing, when I move out to spain this summer, Im going to make sure I cover up and where sun cream, or I might be a rinkly old prune when I older!

I didnt see it either, may have a search to see if i can see it online. Ive recently been to the doctors after a mole changed and itched for a while. Ive never been so worried! Luckily It was fine, it was a mole that just changed. I have lots of moles so while I was there the doc checked the others.

I do admit to using sunbeds in the past knowing full well of the risk I was putting myself under. It really hit home to me when this mole changed ... that it could of been something nasty. Its fake tan all the way for me and a high SPF. x

2 months ago a woman died in Australia and it was attributed to sunbeds.

The alternative to death is quite odd too, I love daylight saving in Australia, I get to see the Oompa Loompahs with their spray on Tandoori tans in broad daylight.

Her name is Clare Oliver and this is her story. Tragic considering she was only 26.:

I AM at peace.

But if I could go back and talk to myself when I was 19 I would tell that girl not to use a solarium -- that melanoma is not a small cancer that you just have cut out and you will be fine.

I may pass in another week or it could be two. If I really fight it out, I may even have six weeks left.

It's scary, because I feel myself getting more tired, and each time I feel sleepy it worries me that I might not wake up.

So far I have lived 25 years. If I am lucky I will reach 26 because my birthday is on Saturday.

It is a short life, but I have lived it.

Subconsciously I did know that cancer was involved with solariums because I was aware of UV A and UV B rays.

But when I was 19, I saw a cheap offer of "buy 10 sessions and get 20".

The girl working at the tanning salon told me the fastest way to get a tan was to come in every second day and use speed cream.

My mum told me it was abnormal to get in a box and fry myself, but I told her it was cool and everyone was doing it.

After the 10th session I was starting to burn and it hurt, so I stopped. But I guess I stopped too late.

It would be irresponsible of me to blame it just on solariums, because I grew up in St Kilda and went to the beach a lot.

But you can't tell me the Government doesn't realise the dangers of solariums.

Young girls need to go out and educate themselves about solariums before they make any decisions.

Obviously my decision has been made, and I think they should be banned. But now that you know my story and the resulting risks involved, hopefully you will realise it is not worth having a golden tan.

I am angry at myself mostly, but I can't believe how much the industry is booming.

A lot of friends tell me I still have a lot of life left in me, but I just live every day as though it is my last.

I was 22 when diagnosed. I had just finished a Bachelor of Media and Communication and a Master of Cinema at the University of Melbourne and started work as a sports journalist at SBS.

I was on top of the world.

But I only got to work for three weeks and then I found out about my cancer.

I will never get to climb the so-called ladder, and even now I complain about not being able to run the rat race with everyone else.

I know I would be good at it -- I think I would be great at it.

I wanted to go to the top, but now feel I have so much potential that will be unused.

It was 2004 when they found a tumour under my left armpit, which they treated with immunotherapy.

In July 2005, it came back and this time they treated me with radiotherapy.

I was cancer-free for a year and seven months, and then in April I found a lump in my neck. I thought they could just cut it out, but it turns out there were seven tumours in my chest and one in my lung.

Now they have stopped counting how many there are.

I had all these ideas and in the end I was ready to accept that two years would be more than enough time left.

But I have accepted it, especially now that I am nearing the end and I am at peace.

When you are someone like me you realise that life is everything and you grab it with both hands and embrace it.

If there is something that you feel needs to be done, go and do it, and do it wholeheartedly because life is short.

People ask me how I can still be so happy with all this on my plate. But I have lived my life as a spark. I don't want to live a life where I am living until I am 100 and just flat boring.

I have always lived my life with compassion and passion. I have never been one to keep my silence about anything I have felt passionate about.

Melanoma is no joke. And I will keep championing this cause till the day I take my last breath.

That was so sad, I hope her story has reached at least some people and given them a chance at a full life, although we all know what teenagers are like, they think its something that only happens to someone else.

Trish