Woman shares graphic skin cancer selfies to warn of dangers of sunbeds
A woman who has suffered from skin cancer for 20 years has shared graphic selfies in a bid to warn people off using sunbeds. After undergoing 4 procedures of skin cancer treatment, this should tell a bit of what she has gone through.
The type of skin cancer a person gets is determined by where the cancer begins. If the cancer begins in skin cells called basal cells, the person has basal cell skin cancer. When cells that give our skin its color become cancerous, melanoma develops. This dermatologist NYC based can help you to diagnosis and treat any kind of skin disease. You can visit Sozo Aesthetics clinic for more detail about the scar removal.
Here you’ll see what the most common types of skin cancer can look like and who tends to develop each type.
What does skin cancer look like?
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC)
This is the most common type of skin cancer, if you to want to help the affected ones check this Child Cancer Donation Program, every contribution no mater how small it is makes the change.
- BCC frequently develops in people who have fair skin. People who have skin of color also get this skin cancer.
- BCCs often look like a flesh-colored round growth, pearl-like bump, or a pinkish patch of skin.
- BCCs usually develop after years of frequent sun exposure or indoor tanning.
- BCCs are common on the head, neck, and arms; however, they can form anywhere on the body, including the chest, abdomen, and legs.
- Early diagnosis and treatment for BCC are important. BCC can grow deep. Allowed to grow, it can penetrate the nerves and bones, causing damage and disfigurement.
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the skin
SCC is the second most common type of skin cancer.
- People who have light skin are most likely to develop SCC. This skin cancer also develops in people who have darker skin.
- SCC often looks like a red firm bump, scaly patch, or a sore that heals and then re-opens.
- SCC tends to form on skin that gets frequent sun exposure, such as the rim of the ear, face, neck, arms, chest, and back.
- SCC can grow deep into the skin, causing damage and disfigurement.
- Early diagnosis and treatment can prevent SCC from growing deep and spreading to other areas of the body.
In a Facebook post that has been shared more than 63,000 times, the 49-year-old mother of two says the cancers are the result of using sunbeds and staying out in the sun too long when she was younger.
Since her first diagnosis in 1995, Cloud, a legal assistant in Indianapolis, Indiana, has undergone four surgeries.
The most recent in September was an invasive three-hour operation to remove 23 cancer spots from her face, chest, arms and legs.
This Is Skin Cancer.
This is the result of using tanning beds when I was younger.
This is the result of having numerous sunburns as a child and teen, and not being religious about applying sunscreen, and staying out in the sun far too long as a teen and into my 20’s and even early 30’s.
As well as her pictures, she gives a detailed insight into the unseen consequence of the operations, such as not being able to chew properly, numbness, nerve damage and scars.
“I’m really hoping the thought of going to a tanning bed no longer sounds quite so attractive to you,” she concludes in her Facebook post.
Speaking to Self magazine she said that while her younger self would never share the stark pictures, her most recent surgery prompted her to document her illness in a public album.
“I’m old enough now to know this is needed,” she said.
I hear too many people say that they feel better about how they look after they go to a tanning bed or after they bake in the sun for hours on end.
Look at the pictures. This could be you.
Cloud told the magazine she is “lucky” because most of her cancer is basal cell carcinoma – the most common form.
“It’s not melanoma,” she said. “But it could have been. And I don’t want to take the chance of having melanoma. This is a hard enough battle fighting this.”
Source ITV News