Woman’s sunbed warning after three moles are removed
A WOMAN has warned people about using sunbeds after claiming she had to have three moles removed in less than a year.
Naomi Antrobus, from Maesteg, has been using sunbeds on and off once or twice a week for around 20 minutes since she was 18.
However, last year the 20-year-old discovered she had two moles, one on her leg and another on her neck.
Naomi suspects they are linked to her sunbed use. When she went to the doctors she said they were concerned and referred her to dermatology which led to her having them removed.
But recently another mole has appeared on her leg.
“Thankfully the two moles came back all clear and were not cancerous, but I noticed another mole just under my leg close to one of the moles I’d had removed.
“Again the dermatologist was really worried about this mole so I had it removed and I’m just waiting on the results,” she said.
She said she first discovered the moles because they had started to itch.
“I had literally just come off the sunbeds and I’d gone up to my friend’s house and I asked my friend what was on my leg and he said it was a mole.
“I didn’t even realise that was a sign of skin cancer.
“I took photos of all my moles, I had two new ones. I sent the photos to my mother and sent them to the doctors and it just went from there really.
“They itched first of all and that’s how I noticed them,” she said.
“There was one that appeared about five weeks ago now, the same thing happened, I was itching my leg, it was quite close to the other mole that I had on my leg and that’s the one they recently removed.
“The last time I went on the sunbeds was last summer.”
The NHS website says sunbeds give out ultraviolet (UV) rays that increase the risk of developing skin cancer, both malignant melanoma and non-melanoma.
The advice on the website from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) recommends people should not use UV tanning equipment if they have fair, sensitive skin that burns easily or tans slowly or poorly and if they have lots of moles.
Naomi, 20, said she was stressed and scared when waiting for her test results.
She said she believed that using sunbeds was just “not worth it” and she wanted to speak out to raise awareness.
“I went back down to the hospital for my results from my other two moles and I pointed out to the dermatologist this new one and as soon as he took a look he said it was very concerning and he wanted to remove it. That one looked completely different to the two other moles.
“When I went into dermatology one of the first questions which they asked was ‘do you use the sunbeds?’ and I said ‘yeah’.
“When I was waiting for the first two results I worked myself up and was thinking the worst.
“I said to my mother, ‘I’m not going to stress myself up this time.’
“The only thing I’ve got after going on sunbeds now is three scars, I will never go on them again. I’ll just stick to fake tan.
“It’s so scary and the sunbeds are definitely not worth the stress.”