A WOMAN who got addicted to sunbeds was relieved it cleared her eczema – until she was told she had skin cancer.
Daniella Bolton, 24, thought the tanning beds were good for her skin, and was getting the added bonus of a tan.
The 24-year-old had tried using a variety of creams to clear her sore and itchy skin but found the few that worked didn’t have long-lasting effects.
When she read UV light is a treatment for eczema, given in a hospital setting, she didn’t see the harm in trying the DIY way.
Phototherapy, using UV light, can be used as a last resort for eczema treatment, prescribed by a doctor.
Experts say high street sunbeds are not the same and are often too strong.
At her wit’s end, Daniella slathered on tan accelerator and hopped on sunbeds twice-weekly for up to 12 minutes at a time.
The then 18-year-old, from Edinburgh, Lothian, said: “Obviously by doing that I would get a nice tan as well, which I was quite happy about, so I just kept going.
“I used to get really bad eczema on my arms and legs. Over the years I’d tried every cream and lotion from the doctors.
“Nothing was really working and if it did work it would only work for a short while and then it would flare up again and it just wouldn’t go away.
“It was really itchy and embarrassing.”
After two years of regular tanning sessions the sales administrator spotted a small mole on her back while trying on clothes in River Island’s changing rooms.
Daniella said: “Just after my 20th birthday this mole appeared near the top of my back beside my left shoulder blade.
“It wasn’t very big at all, it was a deep brown colour and was a wee bit raised.
“I don’t have any spots, moles or freckles on my back so it was quite obvious to me.
“As soon as I saw it I remember thinking ‘what’s this?’”
Daniella was with her nana, Linda Bolton, 65, during the shopping trip in February 2017, and called her in to take a look at the mole.
Initially thinking it was just a spot, Daniella brushed it off. But when it failed to clear up she visited her GP in April.
She said: “They weren’t 100 per cent sure and referred me to a dermatologist [in May].
“They did a biopsy on it and a few weeks later I got the results, it was very upsetting.”
Daniella was given the devastating news that the mole was cancerous and she had melanoma.
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer, but not the most common.
Still, around 16,000 new cases of melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed in the UK every year, and six Brits die from it every day.
According to Cancer Research UK, melanoma skin cancer risk is 16-25 per cent higher in people who have used a sunbed – which is why Trending In The News’s Fabulous campaigns against Dying For a Tan.
Daniella said: “When I heard the word ‘melanoma’ I became really distressed and I questioned my whole life.
“I spoke to my nana about it and I just kept saying to her ‘am i going to die? Am I going to be ok?’ It was so worrying.
“I’d never heard of anyone my age having it, I just started questioning everything. I was so worried.”
