Sunbed Shock

I worked in a sunbed shop as my first job for 2 months, a long long time ago. I was lead to believe that legally we have to ask:

When was your last session? Then refuse anyone who was within the same 24 hour period and refuse anyone doing over 6 minutes who had not tanned in the last week. We also had to be shown their eye protection, if they did not have it we legally had to ensure they took ours with them.

I have googled to confirm this and can't find anything but this was a core part of my training and then owner was very clear they would (rightly!) be reported to trading standards if these rules were not followed. This was 10+ years ago and I would have thought things would get stricter in that time!

I think this shop absolutely needs reporting OP, I know you said it was a young girl not taking much notice but she has clearly not been given any/enough training and the shop is operating dangerously as a result.

You've had some good advice in this thread.

I would ignore your mum and go to A&E. Wear soft loose clothes which won't rub against your skin any more than necessary and drink lots and lots of water. Aloe vera gel is good once your skin has got used to the shock. Keep it in the fridge for extra cool loveliness.

Please don't ever use a sunbed again, and wear high SPF in the sun. Having a tan just isn't worth the pain of sunburn, much less the risk of skin cancer. Embrace your lovely pale skin, or if you must, use tanning drops in your moisturiser for a bit of colour.

I had some bad sunburn in my youth and now I wear SPF every day and get my skin checked by the dermatologist every couple of years. They can do a full body check with a special light and check for any abnormal looking marks.

I really think sunbeds should be banned. So many people just don't realise how dangerous they are.

Your mum has given you terrible advice. You absolutely should go to A&E. What you have is a lot more than a bit of sunburn.

I honestly didn't think sunbeds were still legal. I thought they'd gone the way of smoking in restaurants.

If I were you, I would go to A and E or the chemist and obtain special strong cream for burns. It is so good.
Drink water, take Panadol, rest and do not go out into the sun at all for a few weeks.
Once you are healing nicely apply Aloe Vera gel.

Use sunscreen always on exposed skin.

This isn't just pain - your skin is the largest organ in (on) your body.

The swelling and indentations sound like lymphedema, basically your body is sending blood and lymph fluid to your skin and extremities because you've given the skin a massive trauma.

That swelling will pull the burned skin tighter, so it hurts more.

Eventually fluid may gather under some layers of skin and form blisters.

Until that inflammatory reaction calms down and your body rebalances itself, lymph fluid starts draining, electrolytes restored, you are going to feel bloody awful, and the pain is likely to go on longer than that.

You can speed healing up a bit by ensuring you're drinking LOADS of fluids, including some electrolyte drinks (dioralyte for example), and keeping your skin cool, possibly damp (to aid cooling) and avoid friction. Taking a combination of ibuprofen and paracetamol (assuming you personally are safe to take both) can help.

I would see a pharmacist in the morning, they'll be able to advise you on further treatment.

If you can lie in a cool bath I would - you're not going to significantly increase the risk of cellulitis by doing that (if you had open blisters and then fancied a swim in a lake or river, yes, but in your own bath, no) and you will cool down the skin and hydrate the very outer layer.

Oh poor OP! How's your skin?

Don't blame yourself - you just made a mistake, that's all. There's no way I would have known that you shouldn't do twenty minutes. I'd have assumed that's standard!

I attempted to go on a sunbed once, at my local leisure centre. The light was so bright I couldn't even get into the machine, so I ended up not doing it. The idiots on the desk were supposed to give me eye shields but they didn't. And there was no oversight on the timing either - I guess I could easily have lain there for ages.

Aloe vera gel is supposed to be good for burns.

Sending you cyber-hugs and sympathy. 💐💐

Seriously! I think people still do, though. There are harsh winters where I live but the weather starts heating up on the odd day around late April. After a long winter, on the first random hot day there are lots and lots of young women around with smooth, deep tans - and not because they're biracial or Latina, these are white people. I'm sure the tans aren't out of a bottle, they're just too deep and natural. In recent years I've reflected that they must be using sunbeds over the winter to suddenly appear with such great tans the second the sun peeps out in spring.

At the local pool in the summer, young women are always frying themselves in the intense midday sun, too.

You can't put an old head on young shoulders, unfortunately!

Hope you’ve gone to A and E. I used sunbeds in my 20s but not for long. Have had melanoma in my 50s. Can’t understand why they haven’t been banned in the Uk.
You’ll get through this. Report the salon to trading standards; surely 20 mins is way over the limit. I can remember the smell after maybe 5? How stupid were we back then.

You need a&e, especially as the burn covers a large area

Oh my god… you say you have health anxiety and yet still did this? Sun beds have been banned in Australia since 2015 because of their exponential link to skin cancers. I didn’t think people still did that!

Oh OP, please go to a&e. They can help you!

You sound seriously ill to me, and in need of fluid replacement via I/V and pain relief.

Please ignore your mother (she's completely wrong) and go immediately to hospital.

Better to listen to medical people rather than your mum @SansaStark90

I get that 5.5% might not sound huge, but that’s 1 in 20 people—which is honestly terrifying when you realise how deadly melanoma can be.

What people don’t always realize is that once melanoma metastasizes, it’s basically a death sentence. Survival rates drop dramatically, and treatment options become limited and brutal. This isn’t just about vanity or a temporary tan—it’s about gambling with your life. Prevention is the only real power we have here.

And for that reason I will be very blunt with OP. Sorry. I’m only sharing facts. Knowledge is power in my eyes.

What’s even more concerning is that just one use of a sunbed increases your melanoma risk by 20%.

Forgive me for not sugar coating. I have a relative who had her entire left ear surgically removed due to melanoma.

A&E will have seen many sillier things OP (I promise you!).
You do need really good advice and probably treatment.

Hope you feel better soon.

Oh no I've jsut seen this, please say you've gone to A&E

You won’t be the first person to rock up at A&E with sunburn. I had to go once in my twenties after getting badly burnt the day I came home from holiday - I needed my burn dressing everyday for a week, then I had to keep it moist for weeks. Better a wasted trip than suffering as the burn won’t have come out fully yet so if you can get it seen to they might be able to stop it.

Best of luck OP. You must be in so much pain! Go with your gut and go to A&E xxx

Also genuinely worried for you after your update OP. I know a&e is awful, no-one wants to go there, but they'll be able to give you good pain relief and help. Please go if you haven't already.

Go to A & E please. The sooner you get treatment for your burns the better.

Look OP, I'm only saying this because I'm worried for you, but if there was ever going to be a time where you woman up and take action to try and mitigate a problem, surely that should be NOW while you're in the most pain you've ever experienced, you've introduced your pale skin to UV radiation for 20 solid minutes. You need to get medical help.

It'll won't be fun but face this problem head-on!

You'll only worry and wish you'd sought help earlier if you don't.

Stop using would be safer

You need to go OP, the good people of MN would soon hand your arse on a plate if they thought for one second you'd be wasting A&Es time, you're not...ignore your mother she's talking nonsense, please go...

Hope you’re on your way OP.