SPRAY AND PRAY
A WOMAN who used a so-called Barbie drug and sunbeds was left with a scar after a cancer fright.
Now Amy Murphy has warned others to steer clear of tanning salons and unlicenced melanotan products on the black market.
The 24-year-old regularly booked sunbed sessions before swapping them for a nasal spray which darkens the skin.
The drug – which can also be injected – is unregulated in the UK but is still available on the internet.
However months after using the compound, she developed a mole.
Surgeons removed the growth which has left her with a three-inch scar which will take years to heal.
Amy, of Barrhead, Renfrewshire said: “Doctors say if I had left it any longer it could have turned to a worse stage of melanoma which is so scary.
“Hearing the surgeons snip away at my face was horrible and it was so close to my ear.
“I’m sticking to fake tan for the rest of my life. I don’t care if I have dirty bed sheets. I’m ditching
Amy warns of fake tan risk after melanoma scare from treatment
sunbeds and sprays for safe, regulated rub-on fake tan going forward.
“I worry that other young people doing these things think they’ll be okay. I don’t want anyone going through what I did.”
Amy’s biopsy results confirmed a melanoma – cancer cells that have not yet grown. The dog groomer then had to go back to hospital for a second operation.
A family member spotted the mole six months after she started using the nasal spray which costs £25.
The drug works by bringing melanin to the surface, making it seem darker. Users dub it the Barbie drug as it gives them the “perfect tan”.