Sunday 29 May 2011

Sun Beds, Premature Skin Aging and Melanomas.

Katie Price
I have a colleague at work who is twenty years younger than I am.  She is a sun bed addict.  She had crow's feet at the age of twenty five and now at the tender age of ??? – but definitely under forty! - she has more lines on her face than Clapham Junction.  I find it difficult to give her eye contact in that I am horribly obsessed with and focus on the deep lines on her face.

We have had talks in the past with her obsession with sun beds and I have pointed out to her that she is at high risk of melanomas as she is fair skinned, freckled and has many moles.  She has taken this on board but is unable to halt her addiction.  Oddly enough, even though I can discuss with her the high risk of skin cancer – I am unable to tell her that she looks old!

Last nigh I watched Grand Designs and I love this programme.  Youngest son has had his eye on a listed building in the city where I work and it is his dream to own it.  It is unoccupied and would make great upmarket flats.  I have taken on his passion and I want him to own it too – but it will need a lottery win!  A big lottery win!

However I digress, the female partner (who is incredibly beautiful) of the two who were breathing new life into a listed building, has the hallmarks of sun bed abuse.  The crow's feet and the lines around the mouth - and she could only be under thirty.

Why oh why do people – especially females – do this to themselves?  Today's 'suntan' is tomorrow's premature aged skin.

I am not 'into' vacuous celebs – but I know some (many?) folk are, so I would ask you to consider the vacuous Katie Price who at the ripe old age of thirty-four is to cease modelling – (hallelujah) as she considers herself old, wrinkly and fat.  Katie is a self-confessed sun bed addict who resorted to Botox in her late twenties in an attempt to eradicate the skin damage caused in her quest for a continuous tan.

Are you the next Katie?  Please read these articles re sun beds at Scot Sun, Cancer Research,  and the World Health Organisation  Read and learn!

If you are a sun bed addict – you may be lucky enough to escape melanoma – but it is highly likely that you will suffer premature skin aging.

Do you really want to look sixty in your early forties?

Anna :o] – the pale faced and almost wrinkle free one.





14 comments:

Dave King said...

Here, here! My brother is very poorly with melanomas - the result, his consultant has said, of too much cricket (and sun) in his youth.

Frances Garrood said...

I think the reason you can't tell your colleague that she looks old is that there's nothing she can do about the damage so far. You warn against the sun bed because there's something she can do about that.

I don't like sunbeds, but do I love the sun. Oh dear...

Anonymous said...

Oh...I watched that program and did wonder about that woman's face - she was very attractive but as you say there were some quite distinct lines.

Everyday Goddess said...

the best advice i ever heard was from a woman in her 60's who had the most beautiful skin. she said, "you reap the garden you sow." i do enjoy being in the sun, and i'm always wearing a layer of 30, and get a nice glow.

Friko said...

No lines, - well, hardly any - on my aged visage. I have never understood the English obsession with turning red and peeling in summer, and not only in summer now.

I even cross the road to walk on the shady side!

Beloved has basked in the sun all his life, he is stringy and wrinkled in places where you are meant to stay soft and pale for ever and has had his first bout of BCC.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thanks for your kind comments folks.

Dave - Saddened to hear of your brother and sincerely hope he wins his fight.

Frances - Yes you are correct. But I could tell her that halting sun bed abuse could slow down the aging of her face - but that would mean I have to tell her she is prematurely aging. Why can't I do that?

Everyday Goddess - Sound advice.

Friko - Mad dogs and Englishmen - says it all, doesn't it? Shade person myself - only 'sun-bathed' about ten times in my life, I think.

Order beloved to stay out of the sun!

Nilofer - Already have and have left a comment.

To all - the sun has been shining down on this longer than we have existed upon it. The Earth needs it as much as we do - for us Vit D absorbtion. However, mad dogs and Englishmen says it all - don't cook yourself!

Despite warnings and skin protection - melanomas are on the increase so perhaps you should check out the ingredients of your skin factor cream? Google it!

Anna :o]

Isabel Doyle said...

Sun worshipping is such a dangerous pastime. My Australian father-in-law spent the last years of his life fighting melanomas and died as a result of leukaemia (probably from radiation therapy for them). The 25 years I knew him I never saw him without a hat, slathered in sun block, covered up, but the damage was done.

We all avoid the sun - if we go to the beach or the pool it is at 6 am to avoid the death rays.

We need celebraties (I know, like a hole in the head) who worship creamy unsullied skin, sport delicate hats with veils and wide brims, gloves and demure, covering clothes. Any chance do you think?

My own nasty auto-immune disease was probably triggered into a massive flare up by ultraviolet rays while on a boating holiday - and I was covered and hatted. Hate the sun.

Best wishes, Isabel

Manzanita said...

Anna, No wrinkles? Wonderfully good for you!!!

If you really want her to give up the tanning beds, a good jolt to the ego would do it, don't you think? If she's vain enough to tan (thinking she's looking better), she'd be vain enough to stop if you pointed out her wrinkles. But who am I to say? A few wrinkles are expected at my age. :)
Manzanita@Wannabuyaduck

Lolamouse said...

You are so right! I am very fair and have had moles removed to be on the safe side. I refuse to try to tan and always have people commenting that I SHOULD get a tan to look "healthier." My father, who has already had skin cancer, still sunbathes! You can't fix stupid!

ADDY said...

Well said. I think,though, that many people think it won't happen to them. The same with smoking or drinking, people think they won't get lung cancer or liver disease. That's for someone else, not them. When I was younger I used to sit close in front of an ultra violet lamp (my dad had it for the infra red for his bad back). In those days there was no information about the harm of ultraviolet rays. Now there is no excuse.

Skin Care said...

With the stressful working environment most of us dwell in, it’s inevitable that we “age faster,” but with a good number of skin care products, even hard laborers can “age backwards.”

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thanks for your kind comments folks.

Isabel: I love the way the world looks on a sunny day, but as to sunbathing or merely just sitting in it - not for me. It makes me feel yuk!

Sorry to hear of your father in law.

Manzanita: "...almost wrinkle free" - but not quite. An annoying crease on the left side of my mouth - but not deep and a few lines around the mouth and that's it. No crows feet (as yet)!

Lolamouse: Totally agree - I don't want to tan either and am happy with my pale face. Your dad - men!

Addy: There is no excuse and you are right - 'it' always happens to someone else!

Skin Care: Erm, well, yes - but 'No!' Where is the evidence that stressfull working envionments make us age faster? Selling opportunity here, I think?

Anna :o]

Kit Courteney said...

Well put, Anna.

I'm fair skinned (I burn easily if ever I've been unfortunate to be somewhere that gets suddenly hot and I'm not prepared - most annoying) and stay out of the sun when possible. I like being a 'normal' colour!

Before I moved, I had a neighbour who used a sun bed several times a week. She's 3 years younger than me (I'm 40) and yet her skin was hideous; leathery and brown and almost 'dirty' looking. Her children (13, 16 and 18) thought it was normal and they, too, would fry themselves in the back garden or on holiday. Needless to say, they looked like 3 leathery clones.

Nice.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

I like being a normal colour too and am happy with it.

Another (ex)colleague - I always believed that she was considerably older than me due to her well worn appearance, leathery fits perfectly (!), yet discovered she was eight years younger after she left. This was quite a good few years ago and perhaps the danger of sun beds was unknown then, I can't recall.

She must look ancient now!

Anna :o]