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?

A&E is overrun with people who have minor injuries, burns unless vastly more serious, are usually attended to at urgent care centres, which means you are seen faster because the other cases there are unlikely to be life threatening. Because beds aren’t needed for minor injuries, which is time consuming, so not as simple as triage and an appointment with a doctor.

Excellent reaponse - ignore the twats! How are you today?

@SansaStark90

If you haven't done so please go to A&E!

This happened to my mum and she ended up in the burns unit. She was so lucky that she didn't become seriously ill.

You made a silly mistake, don't beat yourself up but please get seen by a doctor

I guess it depends if there is a centre near OP. 111 usually know where the best place is depending what is available and when they are open and advise accordingly. We are lucky to have a walk in place nearby, but a lot of towns don't have them. There was one attached to A&E in the next borough but they closed it.
My GP does e-consults and triage, but friends at the next practice along can't get an appointment. There is a huge variety in services.

Probably been said a million times in this thread but 20 mins is such an incredibly insane amount of time on a sunbed, even for someone who regularly uses them, that'd cause significant damage to them. I don't know how you're coping with it tbh - I went on a retubed stand up when i was younger, I had no idea what I was doing so just asked for 12 mins believing that'd be fine... I am very pale. It was absolutely excruciating within hours and I was tripping out, couldn't sleep & wanted to die. Took days to recover to a point where I could exist. God only knows how you're coping after 20 fucking minutes, jesus, I feel so so sorry for you.

Yes - I’m sure you are quite right there. We have an urgent care service near by and honestly, I think most people in A&E are there because they can’t access other medical care. It’s a shocking waste of resources, but there you go.

With whole body burns she may need blood tests and fluid replacement. That is the greater concern here. I think A&E better option than urgent care or minor injuries.

Hope you're ok OP

How are you feeling OP?

You are not the first to make a silly mistake and you won't be the last so don't beat yourself up too much once you're feeling better

I really hope you are feeling better

@MissScarletInTheBallroomI live in a very middle class area and we have at least 2 within short walking distance (and possibly others within beauty salons) so I don’t think that it is class based. The maps of local
stores for the big chains shows them literally everywhere except for like the tip of Cornwall and outreaches of the highlands.

Sunbeds are still legal?! WTAF.... they will kill you. What are you doing?? Sunbeds, worse, sunburn from sunbeds alters your skin cell structure and you're at higher risk of developing melanoma than just normal sunburn or sun exposure. One of the quickest developing and most excruciating diseases out there. And if you're under 35 it's worse. You have a 75% higher risk of developing melanoma.

Never, ever do sunbeds again. Please.

Editing to be kinder. I'm so shocked anyone would still do these and I see others have posted stats. You need fluid, rest and aloe vera gel and you will be fine. I've lived in places where this is pretty common like a weekly thing from sun, not a big deal, and no scarring from blisters ever. Please, the biggest risk is skin cancer not a few days of discomfort. Don't do it.

OP you've taken account for being stupid by getting on the sunbed in the first place, please don't make a second stupid, irresponsible decision by listening to your mother's stupid, irresponsible 'advice'.

Yes, get to A&E

The shaking and shivering are not good signs

I got a melanoma on my hand from sitting in a pub garden. On one single occasion. We were sitting under a parasol but my right arm was exposed and got burnt. A mole appeared on my right hand, I noticed it but wasn't sure if it had always been there and I had just noticed it because it had gone a funny colour. But I found a picture of me the year before where I was holding a bottle of Oasis in my right hand and there was no mole. Two doctors said it was fine before I was finally referred, and luckily after initial removal confirmed it was malignant I had to have a wide excision and skin graft to make sure they had got it all. So in the end I was fine but I couldn't believe one sunburn experience had given me cancer. Fwiw mixing some aloe Vera gel with Ibuprofen gel is really good for sunburn.

It's so scary how quickly damage can be done. I work outside and I'm so vigilant about putting sun cream on or wearing UV protective clothing. It doesn't take much.

I remember someone this burnt. It's a hospital job. Their dressings had to be changed every 48 hours. It wasn't pleasant but the treatment saved them from scarring and infection.

Anyone on here saying don’t go to A&E is utterly insane. The poor woman has burns on 80% of her largest bodily organ (one that keeps out infection amongst other things, and is compromised if blistered or damaged in any way). It could very quickly become an emergency.

I hope you’ve been seen by someone now OP and you’re on the road to feeling better. A horrible experience for you and extremely negligent of the salon worker.

This is so dramatic and also incorrect.

The misunderstanding of these types of statistics is a real bug bear of mine (and I use examples of it and how small risks are hyped up with scary statistics - particularly in the press - in some training that I have developed around understanding data)

Melanoma risk is 2.44% (1 in 41 women in the UK).

Use of sunbeds increases the risk by between 16% and 25% - but the statistics for this don't differentiate between how often the sunbed is used so will include heavy users as well as those who use it once.

For women who first use a sunbed under the age of 35 risk increases by 59%.

What that means in reality is that the general risk increases to 3.05% (1 in 33) or for women who first use a sunbed before the age of 35 it's 3.88% (1 in 26)

It sounds a lot, but when you take into account that this is a lifetime risk, the peak age for diagnosis is in those over 80 and the survival rate is 87.4% it really is not a huge risk.

The risk of actually dying from Melanoma is just 0.489% (1 in 204)

For context, the risk of getting into a serious road traffic accident and being killed or seriously injured is 3.44% (1 in 29) - higher than the melanoma risk.

So please can people stop quoting inflated statistics and making terrifying claims about the risks of melanoma! No wonder people have such health anxiety about things these days!

It’s the ones saying pop some yoghurt or coconut oil on it and have a nap that are making me rage at the phone screen.

I scalded myself once. Sudocrem was bloody brilliant. Nothing to offer on sunbeds I'm afraid.

So sorry this happened to you OP. Hope you feel better soon.

@SansaStark90 Hope you've been treated, feel better and learnt your lesson for next time. Spray tans are ugly but then don't burn you (I hope) - may be the way to go next time if you really need darker skin.

I would complain to the shop about the staff member that clearly did not give you any advice or asked if you've used a sunbed before. It's dangerous.

Hope you've gone to A&E and been seen. You do not have a bit of sunburn, like your mum said, 80% of your body is covered. Good luck!

Hope you're feeling a little better now, OP. We've all done stupid things in our time - I'm sorry you're in such pain.

I'm sorry you got diagnosed with melanoma but am glad you are recovered.

It is really really unlikely that one incident alone caused melanoma - with the exception of Nodular Melanoma (which is much rarer than other types, doesn't usually appear on hands and is more likely to be caused by excessive and prolonged sun exposure), melanomas are incredibly slow growing.

It's much more likely that it was already developing under the surface of your skin and the sunburn incident either triggered it to grow a little quicker or just drew attention to it by causing pigment changes — which probably did you a favour by allowing you to get an earlier diagnosis.

IGNORE
YOUR
MUM
GO
TO
A&E

(annoying carriage returns in the hope that OP sees it!)