By now, you’ve probably seen the news story of a young woman named Tawny who used to use a tanning bed frequently in her teens. The graphic image contained in the story shows a beautiful young lady with red blisters and scabs all over her face after a round of treatment for her basal cell and squamous cell cancer lesions.
This story, and especially the photo accompanying the article, is one you should show to the young people in your lives who still use a tanning bed and don’t think the consequences can lead to something more serious than a burn. I applaud this woman for taking something really scary and turning it into a cautionary tale for others, even if she didn’t have any intention of it going viral. I know, I know, I already wrote an impassioned post on the dangers of tanning beds and I won’t revisit it now. Except to say that if you or a loved one uses tanning beds, please stop now. According to the article, more than 419,000 cases of skin cancer in the US are linked to indoor tanning…
Looking at this article, it does make me relieved that it’s my leg that bears the brunt of my cancer scar and not my face. Yes, there are photos in the story that shows what Tawny looks like normally and she’s still a beautiful woman; but my scar is a result of a very different type of treatment for a very different type of skin cancer. Because the doctor had to cut so deeply into my leg to make sure to get clean margins, that scar won’t eventually heal over and disappear like a scab. It’s with me for life (and I hope a very long life at that). I could not even imagine having this on my face. As much as I struggle with self-image sometimes, I could not even imagine what life would be like in that situation. Bad enough I had to have a pre-cancerous lesion frozen off my forehead and have that red spot for a few weeks…
I guess I’m relieved that I never really used tanning beds in my youth. As arbitrary as my amelanotic nodular melanoma seems to be, I know it could have been worse – it could have been Stage 3; it could have been deeper into my skin; it could have been on my face, for crying out loud! How odd is it that I’m grateful that my melanoma was on my leg? I guess the glass really can be half full…