Caroline had to have a chunk of her foot the size of a tennis ball removed, while the lymph nodes from her groin were also taken out as she battled the disease
A woman who has survived two bouts of skin cancer believes sunbeds should be banned in the UK. Caroline Madden, 58, started using the beds when she was 18 because she ‘felt better with a tan’.
She used them for 10 years and says she was never told that there was a risk of skin cancer. However, she was diagnosed after her chiropodist noticed a mole on her ankle.
After a long battle, numerous operations, and chemotherapy, she was given the all clear. But just a few months later, Caroline – from Welton, East Yorkshire – was diagnosed with a second bout of the disease.
“I was blissfully unaware of melanoma until I got it,” she told ITV’s This Morning. “I was about 18 and I went to a local club that had a sunbed. It wasn’t regulated at all. You just went and got a token for half an hour – you had a sleep normally.
“I used it because I felt better with a tan. I never burnt. I’m 58 now. Make-up in those days was horrible, foundation was like glue, you didn’t have the spray tan or tinted moisturisers, so it was the only way to get a tan. I never got a warning and used them for about 10 years.
“I go to a chiropodist every few months and in 2009, she said ‘I don’t remember seeing that mole on your ankle’. I asked which mole, and she pointed and I didn’t remember seeing it either. Two weeks later, I had a doctor’s appointment about something else and I asked what they thought and they said ‘oh year, it’s probably worth getting it checked out’, so I did.
“A couple of weeks after that, I had another appointment and they said ‘you’re not leaving’. I went to my local hospital and they knew just by looking at it so they cut it out there and then. It came back two weeks later and confirmed it was melanoma, but needed to do a wider excision to see what stage it is. I went back in, had a massive hole cut in my foot the size of a tennis ball, had a skin graft from my groin and lymph nodes removed from my groin. It had travelled up so I was stage three straight away.
“I was in hospital for six weeks, had six lots of major surgery, had my lymphatic system removed from my waist down and all the complications from that. I was on a drug trial so I had chemo every three weeks for a year. I was monitored for 10 years and was signed off in February 2018 and it came back in my pelvis and groin in May 2018.”
The Sunbed Association says professional sunbeds are well regulated, children are banned and guidance is provided on the number of sessions allowed. Sunbeds are banned in the likes of Australia and Brazil. The NHS website says: “The British Association of Dermatologists advises that people should not use sunbeds or sunlamps. Sunbeds and lamps can be more dangerous than natural sunlight because they use a concentrated source of UV radiation.
“It’s illegal for people under the age of 18 to use sunbeds, including in tanning salons, beauty salons, leisure centres, gyms and hotels.”
The NHS adds that risks include skin cancer, premature skin ageing, sunburn and eye irritation. Caroline does not know if sunbeds were behind her cancer battles, but she has urged people not to use them. She worries that beauty trends on social media are encouraging people to use them.
The Sunbed Association says professional sunbeds are well regulated, children are banned and guidance is provided on the number of sessions allowed. Asked if she has any advice for people using sunbeds, Caroline said: “Don’t. We didn’t know the risk in those days – it was pre-internet and pre-social media. We had no idea but you do know now. I think as long as sunbeds exist, people will use them.”
