Anthea Smith used sun beds since he was 14 years old. His interest in being tan soon became an addiction
“No one should live with what I am living. And all for a tan. “
Anthea Smith, A 44-year-old woman from Bolton, a city in the north-west of the United Kingdom, has nothing but words of regret for her past actions, which led her to lose all her years ago left ear.
After use sun beds since he was 14, Smith developed a melanoma in the ear, which had to be amputated to prevent the cancer from continuing to spread through his body.
“I feel very guilty about my husband and my children, because it’s something that I did to myself,” she tells the BBC.
“He was self-inflicted because he had no knowledge of the dangers.”
Smith was operated in 2015 twice. “They took away my inner ear, the middle, the salivary glands on the left side, and all my lymph nodes,” he explains.
After the operation it was left side deaf and this has also brought balance problems.
Smith acknowledges that getting a perfect tan was, for her, an obsession.
“Was addicted to tanning, to be tanned. And I used mostly sun beds because the results were also faster, ”he says.
Red point
Smith first noticed a red dot on his ear in 2010.
As he recalls, his doctor did not pay much attention to him until, finally, in 2015, after a series of consultations, a biopsy revealed that Smith had a stage 3 melanoma.
While the most recent analyzes show that he has recovered, Smith lives in fear that this aggressive form of skin cancer will return.
The Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, It can spread through other organs of the body.
It is formed in the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives skin color.
Brief history of tanning
- For centuries, white skin was fashionable, since it meant that those who had it were rich enough not to have to work outdoors.
- In the seventeenth century a cream made of white chalk powder or albayalde mixed with egg white and vinegar was used to give the complexion a whitish color.
- It is believed that the designer Coco Chanel began the tendency of tanned skin when she accidentally burned with the sun on a cruise to Cannes in 1923.
- Perfume creator Jean Patou is credited with creating the first tanning oil, Huile de Chaldee, in 1927.
As the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) explains on its page, the most common sign of melanoma is the appearance of a new mole or a change in an existing mole.
It can appear anywhere in the body, but the most common areas are in the legs for women and back for men.
In most cases, melanomas have an irregular shape and more than one color. The mole may also be larger than normal and sometimes itches or bleeds.
Causes
The Mayo Clinic explains that the exact cause that gives rise to melanomas is unknown, but “exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight or from lamps and sunbeds increases the risk of melanoma.”
“Limiting exposure to UV radiation can help reduce the risk of melanoma.”
The NHS also highlights the risks of using sun beds.
“Sun beds emit ultraviolet rays that increase the risk of developing skin cancer (both malignant melanoma and other skin cancers that are not melanomas).”
In addition, “many sun beds emit higher doses of UV rays than the tropical midday sun.”
The risks, he adds, are greater for young people.
Evidence shows that, “people who are frequently exposed to UV rays before age 25 are at a higher risk of developing cancer later in life,” says the NHS.
Sunburn during childhood also increases this risk.
The government agency Health and Safety Excecutive (HSE) in the United Kingdom warns that exposure to UV radiation from tanning equipment such as sunbeds is potentially harmful to people who have White skin or sensitive, those who have suffered Burns of the sun in childhood, people with many freckles or red hairwith many moles, what are you taking medicines or creams that sensitize the skin to sunlight, or those who have in their family cases of skin cancer.
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