Using a sunbed twice a day has turned me into a human snake

[Ezliving_Jim]

Using a sunbed twice a day has turned me into a human snake

EXCLUSIVE Teen skin-peel horror

By Alison Smith-Squire 10/02/2008

Aimee Broberg

A teenager has shed her skin like a moulting snake after two years of using sunbeds twice every day.

Tanning addict Aimee Broberg, 19, spent three weeks in hospital after her whole body suddenly erupted in a painful rash which made her skin bubble and peel off. Now she faces taking a chemotherapy drug meant for cancer patients for the rest of her life - and doctors have told her she can never sunbathe again.

Aimee said: "People ask me if I have been burnt in a house fire. I feel like a human snake. The skin on my body and my scalp feels permanently itchy and on fire. It then flakes and leaves trails of skin where I've been sitting."

Aimee began using sunbeds occasionally when she was just 15. But after she left school and got a job as a sales assistant, she began using them twice a day. "I would go on one for around nine minutes in my lunch hour and again after work," she said. "I had to use different salons because no one would allow me to go on a sunbed twice in one day. I was just addicted."

Aimee even kept her tanning obsession secret from mum Joanne, 42. Joanne said: "I thought her tan was from a bottle. I was horrified when I discovered she was addicted to sunbeds."

Things began to go wrong two years ago when Aimee noticed a finger was peeling. "Next morning I was literally covered in blisters," she said. Aimee went to her GP, who thought it might be psoriasis, a common skin condition.

But it got much worse. One day Joanne found her about to overdose on painkillers, so she took her daughter off to the hospital near their home in Middlesbrough. After three weeks of tests, doctors finally diagnosed PRP - pityriasis rubra pilaris, a very rare chronic skin disease.

The consultant gave her the shocking news. "He told me it was a skin disease that had been triggered by using a sunbed - and I would never be able to tan again," said Aimee. "I now have to cover up in sunlight or my skin just blisters."

Aimee says now: "My skin still sheds - Mum says she knows where I am because I leave a trail of skin! It's better than it was, but it will never be normal. Sunbeds have ruined my life and I feel so stupid."

Prp is a rare skin disease first identified in 1980s. Symptoms include painful red blisters and scaling skin. The palms and soles of sufferers' feet turn orange and they often lose finger- and toe-nails.

Source

[totaleclipse]

oookay... but let me guess thats OUR Fault right??

[wikiwikitan]

Sunbeds have ruined my life and I feel so stupid."

NO! Sunbeds didn't ruin her life, SHE ruined her life.
What an azz.

[navigatin1]

That stupid bitch should be arrested and thrown in jail!!! She new she was breaking the law by going tanning twice a day!

Put a bullet in her and free up a parking space!

[frankie]

First thing I see wrong is this is dated 10/2/2008??? Mr copy and paste must have typed this himself

This surely is NOT in the US. Tanning bed at home or one of those 24/ 7 salons where you can tan whenever. She should feel stupid but not because of the tanning bed. Because she had no sense at all. If you are tanning twice a day you are stupid. Geeze.

[sparky]

Story is from England.

They use dd/mm/yyyy format or 10 FEB 2008.

Agreed she brought it upon herself.

From the picture, it looks like we'd category her a weak type 2B, not good for multiple over-exposures over time, to begin with.

[solarmeter®]

Poster person for the enemy... again.

As a responsible salon owner... these type 1's or 2A's need to be turned away - always. The money is not worth the damage they cause when dermaterrorists and bad-news-media latch on to them.

Never Tans - Always Burns (Type 1) or Rarely Tans - Almost Always Burns (Type 2A) people need to be REJECTED by all salon owners 100% of the time. Those who don't/won't reject them are their own worst enemies.

More than than that - they are the entire industry's worst enemy. Go buy a hairless albino mouse and fry him if you must burn something! Jesus (Hayzoo).

FAKEM®

[EliteMike]

Blah, just give them a TRUE HP session.

[Ziti]

She admits she was stupied for doing this. She even knew she had to go to two different salons. And I bet she demanded the time she wanted.

On the other side, I say salon owners are stupied... If they suspect some one is a salon hopper they should contact all salons to inform. If we could work together instead of trying to cut throats, we might have a chance to educate people and turn our little industry around to a positive state.

Wishful Thinking, I guess..

[Ezliving_Jim]

...pityriasis rubra pilaris, a very rare chronic skin disease....

The reporters didn't do their homework. The disease is not caused by tanning, sunburning or even excessive obsessive exposure to UV light.

UV light does aggravate pityriasis rubra pilaris. Doctors are correct to order her to stop tanning. The docs and reporters are wrong to blame the disease on sunbed use.

[Ezliving_Jim]

Pityriasis rubra pilaris

What is pityriasis rubra pilaris?

Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) is the name given to a group of rare skin disorders that present with reddish-orange coloured scaling patches with well defined borders. They may cover the entire body or just parts of the body such as the elbows and knees, palms and soles.
Often there are areas of uninvolved skin, particularly on the trunk and limbs, which are referred to as islands of sparing.
The palms and soles are usually involved and become diffusely thickened and yellowish (palmoplantar keratoderma). PRP is often initially mistaken for another skin condition, usually psoriasis.

Why does it occur and who is at risk?

The cause of PRP is unknown. PRP is usually sporadic but in some forms it may be partially inherited. It may occur in any race, and males and females are equally affected.
There are several forms of PRP that are classified as follows:
Type Features Classical adult onset

• Accounts for 50% of all cases
• Good prognosis with 80% of patients going into spontaneous remission within 3 years
• After remission, relapses are uncommon
• May be associated with underlying malignancy

Atypical adult onset

• Accounts for 5% of all cases
• May persist for 20 years or more
• Often has an eczematous component

Classical juvenile onset

• Accounts for 10% of all cases
• Usually occurs between 5 and 10 years old
• Often follows an acute infection of any type
• Spontaneous remission within 1 year

Circumscribed juvenile

• Accounts for 25% of all cases
• Occurs in prepubertal children
• Usually confined to palms, soles, knees and elbows
• Long term outcome unclear but possible improvement in late teens

Atypical juvenile onset

• Accounts for 5% of all cases
• Sometimes inherited; may overlap with types of ichthyosis
• Occurs at birth or early in childhood and is very persistent

HIV-associated

• Disease tends to be resistant to standard therapies

Juvenile pityriasis rubra pilaris
What does it look like?

Classical adult-onset PRP most often starts on the head, neck and upper trunk as a red scaly rash. Often there is a solitary lesion but within a few weeks multiple patches appear and they join together to form groups of reddish-orange lesions. Over a few weeks these spread downwards and may cover most of the body (erythroderma). Rough, dry plugs can be felt within the patches and are due to plugged hair follicles, often most obvious on the backs of the fingers. Patients may also complain of itching in the early stages of the disease.
The palms and soles become thickened and yellow coloured. Cracks may develop which can be painful and make walking and using the hands difficult. The nails may become thickened and discoloured at the free nail edge and may show linear black streaks (splinter haemorrhages). The hair may thin considerably.
Adult pityriasis rubra pilaris
What treatments are available?

The value of treatment is difficult to assess, as the clinical course is so variable for each of the different types of PRP. In general, the inherited forms of PRP tend to persist throughout life whilst the sporadically acquired forms tend to resolve spontaneously eventually.
Topical medications such as emollients may be used to relieve symptoms of dryness and cracking. In severe cases acitretin or isotretinoin may be useful. Methotrexate has been of limited value.

Source

http://dermnetnz.org/scaly/pdf/pityr...-dermnetnz.pdf

[Kathe]

She admits that she had to go to different salons to do this and then sunbeds get blamed - how ridiculous. And then the fact that this is not even caused by sunbeds in the first place. Even more ridiculous.

Kathe

[Wicked1]

oh and like her mother thought she was tanning from a bottle give me a break.. How dumb can you really be.. Stupid poms!

[esun]

I had a lady come in trying to sell me advertising in the local paper. she told us she had breast cancer but only used a tanning bed once! She blames the tanning bed! can you imagine....I told her to get lost...

[Tanning Queen]

YEah, THAT is the way to sell advertising! Bash the personyou want to buy shit from you. Smart...