Am I mad??!! Opinions please x

[PointeToPointe]

the sensible part of my brain knows this is a bad idea but I really hate my skin so asking opinions / experiences. I can’t ask my parents or they would be mad at me haha

I’ve been thinking about going for sunbeds. I have psoriasis but it’s not for that, it’s purely to get a tan. I’ve been using fake tan (probably tried every brand and type available) but I’m at uni and my friends all tan really easily in the sun and some of them top it up by going for sunbeds and they always look so glowy and tanned. My skin type is extreme pale (Irish) and I have green eyes and fair hair so I NEVER tan in the sun (I didn’t wear sun cream in the Caribbean or in Europe on holidays and barely tanned). I burn a bit but not as badly as i would expect with being so pale, obviously I will burn a bit if I’m out in the blazing sun at the beach on holidays but never in Ireland or the UK.

I know about skin cancer and the risk but I keep thinking how small the risk is and that I’ve burned in the past so getting sunbeds now won’t make a difference now. We actually lost family members (before I was born) to a skin cancer which is usually very localised and not aggressive but apparently spread and became very aggressive and I’ve had other family from the same side suffer with melanoma (not sunbed related, just random). So I know how horrible skin cancer can be and obviously sunbeds are a bad idea if they increase the risk.

for what it’s worth I think other people look beautiful with pale skin but I just don’t suit it! I’m basically translucent

are sunbeds really as risky as they say? Since I’ve already had sunburn in the past would sunbeds really increase the risk of skin cancer significantly or would i be ok? Obviously skin cancer terrifies me and I don’t want to do damage to myself but if the risk is only tiny then would sunbeds be ok? Is there anyway to get sunbeds and reduce the risk of damage?

thanks x🥺

I would just fake tan.

It’s NOT a small risk. I’m extremely pale and I never burnt easily but then have done a few times in the UK and it’s horrible. Don’t use sun beds, please. Especially with a family history of skin cancer. The risk isn’t tiny it’s huge and that’s why that’s the first thing you think of when you think of sun beds.

i’m glow in the dark pale and I do suit it, which I’m sure you do too, but also prefer being tanned. So have a load of St Tropez in the bathroom.

Sorry I should have said. The reason I hate fake tan is it never sits right on my skin and looks terrible after a day. I’ve tried exfoliation and psoriasis friendly tan routines but it looks baaad even on the patches without psoriasis 🥺 and my friends tans look so good

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/sun-uv-and-cancer/how-do-sunbeds-cause-skin-cancer

Summed up:

Increases risk of melanoma by 20%
More than double the damage as being in the midday Mediterranean sun
Worse for pale, fair people with a family history of skin cancer

It isn’t a case of ‘I’ve been sunburnt once and am now OK (I think - we’ll, I’m alive (for now) anyway), so the risk has been eradicated’.

You do realise, right?

Okay so fake tan doesn’t look perfect (no one else would even clock this apart from you, trust me) but a huge hole in your nose from cancer being removed is even worse. Do. Not. Go. On. Sun. Beds.

Also, having been sunburnt in the past makes you more at risk of developing skin cancer from repeated UV exposure, not the other way around. Every time you tan or burn you are damaging your skin cells.

It’s not worth the risk @PointeToPointe. my dad and grandad (not father and son, my mums dad) both got skin cancer in the 90s from poor understanding of sun damage in the preceding decades. My Dad also did bodybuilding so used loads of sunbeds whilst my grandad also used them down their gym for “healthfulness”! My Dads was worse and he had to have more extensive treatment and my grandads was localised BUT on his ear so he ended up having ti have the top bit of his left ear removed. Wearing glasses was forever hard work for him after that. Those two examples show how easy it is to get skin cancer to my mind; two unrelated people with a history of sunbed use getting skin cancer…. It’s a no brainier for me that this is therefore a bad idea. I’m also glow-in-the-dark pale but embrace it. Tans are overrated anyway and with skin cancer in the family you’d be mad to go on sunbeds.

I have really pale skin. I have never tanned and fake tan has never looked good. (Also have a lot of psoriasis/eczema and dermatitis. (Although that is clearing up since I had an allergy test and was given a definitive list of stuff I am allergic to)

Many years ago I did use sun beds.
I went every lunch time for 2 weeks and I looked incredible.
For the first time in my life I had a tan,

I was told to comeback a couple of times per week to top it up and the appointment was booked for the following Wednesday.

By Wednesday I was as pale as I had ever been

i think sometimes for some people to gs just don’t work.

I did go on holiday to a Greek island a few months later with friends who said that the reason I didn’t tan was because I didn’t stay out in the. Sun for long enough.

After 2 weeks of laying out in the sun for 6-8 hours per day. I was still the whitest person on the island.

Have you posted this before OP? This seems ever so familiar

No it is a risk to use sun beds as well as going in strong sun without sun cream especially in hot climates. Have you tried any of the moisturising products that makes your skin tan gradually?

I know two people who have died from skin cancer. It isn't a risk I would take.

Do not do this.

No never posted about this before, I’ve posted about other stuff though- I think I did post a while ago asking for skincare/tanning advice or recommendations but I’m pretty sure I didn’t mention sunbeds and it was more about asking for tips for dry skin skincare products!

yeah I tried the gradual tanning stuff, everything just goes patchy and bad on my skin after no time at all even with exfoliating and moisturising and it looks terrible, I got a little colour on holidays last year and felt so much more confident hence the sunbed thoughts but it’s so risky and I didnt want to cause damage if the risks were too high. I really do be wishing I could just go to the shops and buy myself some new skin that’s less dry and more tanned!!! x

Seems to me I heard that all you need to be susceptible to skin cancer is one bad sunburn.

It's not worth it. Think of what "tanning" actually is. It is your body trying to repair radiation damage. Damage that causes cancer and premature ageing. There is no safe way to tan. You can't tan without damage.

The thing is OP we all wish we could go to the shops and buy a new whatever. For me it's that I wish I could grab a new pair of boobs that didn't develop wrongly during puberty and have tissue missing and can't feed my babies.

But I have them, and seeing as I'm not rich and can't actually get a new pair of boobs (wouldn't fix breastfeeding issue anyway) I have to try and live with them.

We all have things we don't like about our bodies. We've grown up in a society that has conditioned us to be critical of ourselves.

You can't change your skin. You quite rightly don't want to risk cancer by trying to.

So, what are your options? Spend the rest of your life criticising yourself and comparing yourself to those around you? (Who incidentally, will look at you and wish they had something you have)

Or you can make peace with your pale, patchy skin, accept it as part of your body and acknowledge that as humans there will be things we don't like about ourselves so much and things we do like. You don't have to be 100% perfect in every way, you aren't any less of a human being because of the way your skin is.

You're so young, don't spend your whole adult life punishing yourself for something that's outwith your control. Make the choice to think kindly of yourself and you'll be a hell of a lot happier.

If you don't tan or keep a tan from the sun, you won't tan well from a tanning bed.

@nometo4

If you don't tan or keep a tan from the sun, you won't tan well from a tanning bed

Good point

If you're very pale, you won't noticeably tan and all you're doing is increasing your risk of skin cancer.

A close relative of mine died of melanoma in her 30s that was almost certainly made more likely due to sunbed use in her early 20s.

Don't do it OP.

You need to start wearing daily sunscreen on your face, neck and hands- at least factor 30 but with your pale skin probably better to do factor 50+. Otherwise you will age terribly and you will increase your cancer risks. I’m saying this as someone with brown skin who wears factor 50 everyday.

and cancer is not worth a shitty tan.

The risk is too great. Your generation has the benefit of knowing how damaging UV exposure can be. You won't tan anyway.

I have similar colouring OP, very pale, freckles, green eyes. I lived in hot countries as a child and again as an adult. I've worked outdoors in the UK. I don't tan. Ever. I burn. I freckle, I get blotches of pigmentation, I get dark spots and moles. No amount of sun exposure will give me a tan.

I'm of an age where we didn't know the dangers. The damage is done for me, even though I'm careful now. Please don't risk it.

Tans aren't particularly fashionable, even if it might feel like that because all your mates have them. You'd do much better to embrace your colouring by wearing a hat and factor 30-50 when you go out.

Don’t do it!!!! From a fellow pastey!

Sunbeds are different to the normal sun and you are more likely to get skin cancer due to the UVA vs UVB ratio.

If you don’t tan normally why do you think a sun bed will help. I’m going to honest I tried it once at a similar age and it did nothing. I also don’t tan and learnt I would need hours regularly to get a tan. It’s not worth the risk.

You will age more on your face too, 40 year old you might not be too impressed with this decision.

Australian-from-Irish here. At some point, you just have to think “this is what it is” and work at making the best of it rather than thinking about how to change it. And you only ever get one skin.

You are COMPLETELY mad. There is a reason they are banned in Australia and Brazil.

www.sunsmart.com.au/uv-radiation/solariums-and-tanning

No tan is worth dieing for.

In case you don't click the link.