Sunbed Shock

Hopefully OP will report back on advice given at A&E. I very much doubt she will be admitted, what do you reckon?

Ha, I do live in a northern, working class town 🤣 but like I said, we’re rural and in a very outdoorsy part of the country which probably explains why they’re not particularly popular.

What you say does make sense though.

There's one in our local Asda beside the optician and the photo printing place.
It has a big sign up advertising that the beds all have new and upgraded tubes. Staffed by young, very very tanned girls.

I've just been Googling this because I'm genuinely interested. It appears to be more common in both working class areas and areas which don't get much sun (which makes sense). So I guess you would expect to find more of them in northern working class towns.

Sunbed use is quite low where I live, but we get more sun than in the UK.

Rich people are also more likely to be able to afford to get away for some actual sun at any time of year, whereas for people on low incomes a tanning bed has got to be the cheapest way of getting that summer glow.

So it all makes sense.

But they really aren't safe to use.

Edit: Sorry, I confused you with the OP.

Has she? Her last update was that she’d been told to go but that her mum said it would be a waste of time.

Ah, I couldn't see any update saying she'd gone - that's good news if she has!

Middle class town near me, very obvious tanning shop next to John Lewis!

We are in the Cotswolds and have one in the nearest town which is VERY middle class.

Severe radiation burns need urgent medical attention. Thankfully OP has gone to A&E as advised previously on this thread.

Our area is probably as far from middle class as you can get - it’s often labelled on here as a shit hole and somewhere where the best view is on the way out, lol.

But it’s also pretty rural and in a very outdoorsy area which probably means there’s just not much call for sun beds, really.

I've just Googled.

Apparently there is one in my home town, but it's hidden away in the scuzzy part of town.

Quite a few in the next town over, which is an absolute shit hole, but even there most of the tanning places only do spray tans.

I suspect there is a class element to this, and if you are middle class and tend to only frequent middle class areas, you don't see them.

I’d take a cold shower or bath. Put a few sets of PJS in the freezer in a plastic bag so you can change into cold ones. Take antihistamine and ibuprofen for the swelling. It will pass in a few days. Poor you.

I’ve googled (out of curiosity) and we genuinely don’t have any in our town - the nearest is almost 30 miles away.

@faerietalesi don’t think anyone lied? I think people are saying they don’t have them there cos they haven’t paid attention but they do. As other posters here have discovered when looking it up.

we are all guilty of getting sunburn and kicking ourselves after.

There’s a massive difference between getting caught on a surprisingly sunny Spring day and ending up with 80% burns because you’ve fried yourself on a sunbed for 20 minutes 😬

Your mum is a fucking idiot.. normally i'd say 'no offence but.. ' but in this case i mean to offend. What she said is stupid and dangerous and incredibly bad advice.

Please go to A&E, this isn't 'a bit of sunburn' this is a whole body burn that needs medical attention.

The nurses at A&E are perfectly capable of telling you to seek help elsewhere if they don't think they need to see you there.

"Also" cause cancer? What, as well as the cancer everyone's talking about here?

How are you feeling today?
I used to work in a sunbed shop when I was young and you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that came in and asked for 15-20 mins…I would never let anyone on for 20 mins. 15 mins was maximum and that was for very dark skinned regular users. I refused to let anyone on for that long. Was there staff? I know a lot of sunbed places these days are self service so this must happen a lot.
we are all guilty of getting sunburn and kicking ourselves after. All you can do is learn from this and try and be careful with your skin from now on. I kick myself all the time for the sunbeds I had when I was younger and even though I’m careful now, I still got burnt on my last holiday. Hope your feeling better - sunburn is the worst pain

Well I was wrong !! 28 mins seems such a long time though? I’m guessing it’s for the seasoned tanner !

They've been banned in Australia because they also cause cancer if you use them regularly

Thanks for sharing . I would never use a sunbed but like the op would have no idea the recommended time to go into one. This is crazy when people are saying they got badly burned after 9 mins . The salon should have provided guidance

I did this! Went on for 12 mins 1 month after giving birth my skin usually tolerates this but didn’t and I was the same! Get some aloe Vera gel and after sun and make sure you constantly smother yourself in it keep both in the fridge too as it’s nice on the skin when it’s cool! Drink lots of water! Will help speed the repair of the skin that’s damaged!

Like previous posters I don’t recall seeing any tanning places around me but it turns out there are several! My really local ones all LOOK like nail bars but have tanning too it turns out!

As for times - this is the price list I found for one a few miles from me….. there times go to 28 minutes!

I think the whole “tans are healthy” myth has a lot to answer for. Look at all the posters on this thread alone who think it’s a good idea to build a base tan before going on holiday, and who are encouraging OP to go back again once she’s recovered 😬

Did you go?
tbh you say you have health anxiety but it’s letting you down badly if you’re not in a&e. You have burns on 80% of your body. It doesn’t matter how you got them. A&e see too many people to worry about the how so you’re being very silly not going. Delaying could make it a lot worse!