Sunbed Shock

[SansaStark90]

I’ve been really stupid and gone on the sunbed for twenty minutes and the burns I’ve got - I’ve never seen skin as red. I’ve got like indents to my skin as though I’ve woken to stretch marks on my chest. Will these disappear? I’m in agony. I’ve never burnt and so didn’t know it could cause this kind of pain. I’m shaking shivering. I did this yesterday. Can someone reassure my health anxiety that these indents will all calm down?

@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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Really hope you went to hospital yesterday

This was the final update from OP, it’s not really clear.

I’ve rang 111 and they’ve said a&e. I’ve had a heap of health problems. Spinal surgery etc. and not complained about the pain. I’m literally howling and deep breathing while shaking due to this pain. But I saw my mum today and she said no way do you go to a&e for a bit of sunburn. I may be an adult but she made me feel that silly that yes her opinion has put me off. So I posted on here hoping to hear the same and that my anxiety was telling me to go to a&e.

Yeah, it doesn’t read to me like she went, but as you say it’s not very clear.

I do hope she has gone. I missed the bit about her mum telling her not go.

I use sunbeds, the ones you stand up in. I start at 3 mins and work up to a max of 8. This is negligence, you must go back and inform them. I would go to an and e and you definitely aren’t over reacting.

Op, that was not your anxiety telling you to go to A&E. That was your common sense. Do not ignore it. Hope you are getting some medical attention.

I have no idea. I am not an A&E doctor. But I do know that she potentially has serious burns and therefore should be seen and assessed by a qualified person.

I hope you’re ok OP and getting appropriate care. None of us are infallible and it was just a mistake, which you obviously now regret. I’m sorry you’ve had so many unkind comments earlier on this thread, let’s hope all those making them are absolutely perfect in every possible way before they come on here to mock and deride someone else.

OP, with respect, your mother is a bloody idiot. You need to go to A&E if you haven’t already. Fucking hell, how many times can people say it?

No she hasn’t … 111 told her to go, but her mother told her no way should she go for sunburn so she didn’t go 🤷🏻‍♀️
Instead of listening to actual medical advice, she listened to her deranged mother.

Sorry to hear you're going through this, I hope the pain subsides asap! Glad to see you've gone to a&e.
I haven't read the full thread so sorry if someone has mentioned this already, but as someone whose husband got melanoma at the age of 30, please check for suspicious lesions in the future. Getting sunburnt on a sun bed is a huge risk factor for getting melanoma. I wish they would ban sun bed shops :(
Use the ugly duckling method to detect as well as abcde (my husbands didn't conform to abcde so we didn't take it seriously for a while, had we know about the ugly duckling, we would have!!) x