By Danielle Kate Wroe

Copyright mirror

A woman has opened up about her tanning addiction, which has grown so bad that she claims she “physically has to go on” the sunbed. When Megan Blain, 19, started using fake tanning products at 14 years old, she experimented because she felt like she was the “odd one out” and wanted to “fit in”. However, she said that it “smelt horrible” and was “patchy” on her skin. Plus, her mum was sick of the stains on her bedsheets. So when her mum got out her sunbed from the garage and let her try it, she discovered whole new world . She claimed it wasn’t as much “effort” as using the fake tan products – but little did she know that it could have some seriously dangerous consequences. Megan, who posts on TikTok as @meganblainxo, admitted that she’s been using sunbeds for almost “four years now,” telling The Mirror : ” It’s past the point of me going on the sunbed to get tanned, just feel like I physically have to go on”. She said that now she’s aware of the risks of sunbeds, but it “doesn’t scare” her. Megan admitted: “The fact that it doesn’t scare me is quite concerning itself. I know the risks of the tanners and sunbeds, and know I shouldn’t be using them, and know I haven’t ever been for a check up [of her skin], which scares me a bit. “But the thought of skin cancer problems I might have in the future is no concern, and that’s not because I’m ignorant. It scares me more the fact that I’m not scared and don’t care. “I know I’ll have problems in the future; I’ve done half an hour every day for a year, no word of a lie”. She also shared that she feels that she has “moles” and “dodgy patches” on her skin – but was “too scared” to visit the doctor about them. Megan has tried to stop tanning in the past and stopped taking tanning injections, which she also uses, but she said quitting made her feel “sick”. At one point, she “wouldn’t leave the house” if she didn’t “look tanned enough”. Over time, using sunbeds has knocked her confidence as it has given her premature signs of ageing. Megan said her skin “looks dull but dark” and she’s “started to get wrinkles” on her arms and she’s “covered in loads of moles”. “I didn’t attend my prom because I didn’t feel dark enough,” she shared. Megan did say she thinks “everybody looks better tanned, but it’s not worth the risks and never feeling dark enough”. Sadly, she felt like she also lost friends due to being addicted to tanning, saying that there was one point where she was “so dark” from sunbeds and tanning injections that her friends wouldn’t want to walk with her. But there is hope, as Megan shared: “I’m slowly learning to be comfortable in my own skin,” sharing that she doesn’t want it to take over her life anymore. Worryingly, the NHS shares that using a sunbed just once before the age of 35 can significantly increase your risk of melanoma. 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. Health risks linked to sunbeds and other UV tanning equipment include: skin cancer, premature skin ageing, sunburnt skin, and eye irritation. It’s illegal for people under 18 to use sunbeds, including in tanning salons, beauty salons, leisure centres, gyms, and hotels. Cancer Research UK shares that if you want a tan, using fake tan from a bottle or a spray tan is safer than using a sunbed or sunbathing. There’s no such thing as safe UV tanning. UV radiation can damage the DNA in your skin cells. This can lead to skin cancer, including melanoma, which is the most serious type of skin cancer. You can’t always see the damage that UV rays cause, as it can build up slowly. But a tan is a reaction to damaged skin cells that have been exposed to too much UV radiation. They also share that any vitamin D you might get through using a sunbed is outweighed by the harms of using sunbeds. A bit of sun can help our bodies to make the vitamin D it needs, but there’s no need to sunbathe or use a sunbed to get vitamin D.