A young Arbroath woman has issued a warning to sunbed addicts after her quest for a perfect and permanent tan left her needing repeated operations to remove cancerous moles.
Kyran Hunter (26), who started visiting tanning salons at 17, has had nine operations to remove moles since being diagnosed with the disease last year.
Over a nine years she clocked up 200 hours under sunbed lamps and spent more than £5000 on her tan.
At the height of what she admits was an addiction, Kyran visited tanning salons in Dundee and Arbroath up four times a week but she has now vowed never to go near a sunbed again and hopes her experience will warn others of the dangers.
Kyran, who works from home as a field sales rep with Unilever and was educated at St Thomas’ Primary and Arbroath High schools before studying for a master degree in psychology at Dundee University, said yesterday, “My dad Colin has lived abroad since I was 12 in hot, sunny places like Nigeria and Houston and getting suntanned was always a big part of visiting him for holidays.
“My step-mum Aileen is the sun tan queen and she was always going on about the importance of using sun creams but I didn’t always listen.
“My mum Jerry has been shocked at what has happened and a lot of my friends have already said they won’t be going back under the tanning tubes again.
“That’s what I really hope to achieve by going public-to make a difference and stop other people ending up in the same position as me.
“I have had nine operations to remove moles in the past 10 months the last one just five weeks ago and with the number of moles and freckles I have I think it’s almost inevitable that there will be more to come.
“I have another consultation next Friday and the way things are going my skin is going to end up looking like a patchwork quilt.
“I don’t think salons should be banned people should still be allowed to make a free choice but I believe they should be more up front about the potential risks.”
She added, “I used to bargain with myself that I would top up my tan before a big night out and then leave it for a few weeks but I could never stick to that and as soon as the colour started to fade I was back at the salon.
“I suppose it’s a bit like the warnings on cigarette packets you always think the terrible health warnings apply to other people and not to you.
“What the future holds for me I don’t know but what is certain is that I won’t be back to a tanning salon.
“Even going outside in this sunny spell we’re having means I have to put on factor 50 sun cream and, as soon as I feel my exposed skin starting to warm up, I have to cover up or go indoors.”
Picture used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Evil Erin.