Facebook saved my life when I noticed my mole was 4 times bigger after years on sunbeds
A WOMAN who was addicted to using sunbeds said Facebook saved her life after the platform posted a memory that revealed one of her moles had changed shape.
Sharon Baggaley would routinely use the sunbed so she “looked good at the weekend”.
The gym manager started using the tanning beds when she was just 16-years-old as she said her blonde hair and blue eyes made it difficult for her to catch a tan from natural sunlight.
She used the beds three times a week up until her mid 20s when doctors referred her to hospital after they found the mole had grown significantly.
Sharon, who lives in Derbyshire now needs constant check-ups to make sure the skin cancer doesn’t come back after specialists found a malignant melanoma.
The 37-year-old needed surgery to remove the mole on her torso.
She had had to put plans to have children on hold as she is petrified that the cancer will return.
“I’m pale with blonde hair and blue eyes and it takes ages for me to get any colour.
"I’d go on sunbeds three times a week and sunbathe without wearing sun cream as I wanted to be golden brown.
"I have a lot of moles but didn’t think anything about them until I spotted a picture on my Facebook Memories of a holiday we’d had in Egypt.
“I could see a mole I have on my body below my breast as I was wearing a bikini – and I realised it was now four times bigger and looked different.”
She said the mole was darker and had jagged edges and also had a “crusty appearance”.
“I hate going to the doctors and wouldn’t have gone if I hadn’t seen that Facebook post.
“But, luckily, I did as I had stage one malignant melanoma and if I’d left it much longer it would have developed into stage two or three and eventually spread to my lymph nodes.
“I told my surgeon and the nurses that I’d only come because I’d noticed the changes in the mole from the Facebook photo and they said left untreated it would have got worse and spread.
“I’ve no doubt that Facebook has saved my life."
Sharon first became hooked on sunbeds at 16 when she started working at a gym and was given free sessions as a staff perk.
Each week she would have three six-minute sessions and would be tanned from top to bottom.
“I didn’t want tan lines so I would just wear ‘winkies’ – special stickers to go over my eyes – and then my friend told me about a special cream called Fire Cracker that you used to make you even browner using a sunbed.
“My skin was bright red afterwards, so I didn’t go on the sunbed again until it calmed down. But I was soon using them again as I hated being pale. I’d sunbathe outside every chance I got but would never put on any sun cream if my mum wasn’t around.
How to prevent skin cancer
Dr Arora, in collaboration with FOREO said sun lotion and wearing sunglasses is a great way to protect yourself.
Speaking to The Sun Dr Arora said: "To reduce your risk of developing skin cancer it is important to protect yourself from sunburn using a high spf (50) sunscreen with a UV rating of 4/5.
"Wear your sunscreen indoors also as UV rays can penetrate through windows. Always remember to reapply sunscreen every few hours. It’s also imperative to limit the time you are spending in the sun.
"Try to avoid prolonged exposure to sun during the hottest time of the day – usually between the hours of 10am-3pm. If you are out in the sunshine - try to seek shade where possible!";
She also added that shades are essential to protect your eyes and the delicate skin around them.
"Wearing a hat and clothing to cover up sun exposed sites will also help reduce the risk. Also avoid the use of tanning beds and UV lamps as these have been linked to an increase risk of melanoma.
“She’d nag me to use it but I thought it stopped me getting any colour so I avoided using it whenever I could.”
To top up her tan Sharon then started using a stand-up tanning machine twice a week.
It wasn’t until she discovered fake tan in her mid 20s that she stopped using the beds.
“I stopped using sunbeds then but unbeknown to me the damage had already been done”, she added.
Sharon has several moles and said one would itch sometimes but that she dismissed it as it wasn’t something that was immediately in her eyeliner.
‘I couldn’t really see it because of where it was so didn’t think about it,’ she says.
In 2009 Sharon took a trip to Egypt with her husband Craig and made sure she shared her holiday snaps on social media.
“I didn’t look at it again but it came up on my Memories last February on Facebook and straight away I spotted the mole and realised how much bigger it was now.
“I looked at it in the mirror and asked Craig to check too and we could see it was four times bigger, darker and had a crusty appearance. I then remembered it had bled a couple of times since the holiday but I’d thought I must have caught it getting changed.”
She went to her GP who referred her to a dermatologist at Chesterfield Royal Hospital.
Less than four weeks after the memory popped up on Facebook, Sharon had the mole removed.
I'm just so grateful to the memories post on Facebook
Sharon Baggaley
“I was sore after the op, which was done under local anaesthetic, but I still wasn’t worried,’ Sharon says.
“But the hospital contacted me and said that it was skin cancer and I broke down.
“I thought I was going to die. But the nurse calmed me down saying I needed more surgery to take more of the skin around it away. They wanted to make sure they had got all of it.”
She said after the operation she was told she didn’t need chemotherapy as they had managed to get every trace of the cancer.
Sharon was told it had been stage one malignant melanoma caused by sun beds and no sun protection.
“I told my surgeon I’d discovered the changes in my mole and wouldn’t have come in if it wasn’t for that Facebook post and he said I was very lucky. It could have spread to my lymph nodes and could have eventually killed me.
“I am just so grateful for that Memories post on Facebook."
But Sharon, who had planned to start trying for children with Craig now says she’s too worried to have a baby.
She said she has a lump on her left arm which she is terrified of.
“I can’t get it checked out at the moment because of coronavirus so I’m worried it’s growing.
“I don’t want to bring a child into this world if I’m going to die of skin cancer. It’s not fair, so right now I don’t want any. I always thought I’d have two children and Craig keeps telling me I’m fine but I’m too paranoid I will have the baby then die.”
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She added that people in the public eye shouldn’t be pushing dangerous messages about sun exposure and slammed Ulrika Johnson who claims the “sun is her drug”.
“She is a role model and giving out the totally wrong message,’ says Sharon.
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“I can see how wrong I was to use sunbeds and shun sun cream because I hated being pale and wanted to get as tanned as possible. But it could have cost me my life. It’s not worth it.
“I use St Moritz fake tanning mousse now and it looks just as good as a normal tan but doesn’t have any health risks. Nothing is worth dying over, let alone a tan.”