Christie’s struggle with Melasma
I grew up the typical teenager. I loved being out in the sun and trying to get as dark a tan as possible. Being Italian, my skin has a naturally olive tone than tans quite easily and never burns. i always used this as an excuse to not use sunscreen. Shoot, pass the oil or any other darkening complex! I also played sports all summer, so was constantly in the sun. And don’t go thinking that, as a Michigan girl, I got pale in the winter. Shoot, bring on the tanning salon!
Things began to change for me about 2 years ago when I began developing Melasma. Melasma is a darkening of skin pigmentation that is mostly caused by the sun (some researchers suggests that oral contraceptives or patches, aka- birth control, may cause this as well). Now this wasn’t the darkening that you look for in a tan. They are irregular patches on your face, commonly found on the upper cheek, nose, lips, upper lip, and forehead.
(source)
For me, it’s my upper lip and both cheeks. Awesome right? NO, not at all actually. No girl wants darkening on her upper lip!
The worst part? There is no 100% cure! I have been getting treatments every few months for the past 2 years or so and they are not cheap. The treatment I get is called Fractional Laser Resurfacing. It brings the darkened pigment to the surface and then it sloughs off as dead skin cells do.
(source)
The procedure itself stings, but only takes a few minutes. Immediately after it feels like a bad sunburn for about an hour or 2. The treatments have definitely helped me, but the darkness does come back after a few months and especially if I slack on the sunscreen. I just wish I had know, I definitely would’ve avoided the tanning salons and at least used something with a small amount of SPF in it.
Another bummer is that you can’t get treatment for this while pregnant. If you follow my blog, Roller Koester Run, you know that I am about 3 months pregnant now! Pregnancy can actually make this worse, as some women get it just during pregnancy due to the influx of hormones. I am at the point now where I would get another treatment, but can’t. The hard part is that every girl wants to feel beautiful and it is hard to with dark patches on your face.
So, to wrap it up, it’s like those girls on ’16 & Pregnant’, or people who gets STDs. They say things like, “It won’t happen to me”, but it can! It can happen to anyone. Just think, this isn’t even the worst of it, I am not even delving into the topic of skin cancer! So protect yourselves ladies. Stop going to the tanning salons and go to CVS and buy some tinted lotions already!
Christie
http://rollerkoesterrun.wordpress.com/
Further Reading
- Mayo Clinic - more treatment information for Melasma
- Mayo Clinic - slide show of other forms of sun damage
- Mayo Clinic - overview of skin cancer (types, causes, risk factors, etc.)
- Fox News - tanning beds as dangerous as arsenic?
Can you relate to Christie’s story?
Do you have a tanning experience that you’d like to share?
Thanks so much for sharing your story. I think when we’re teens we feel invincible to those things, and only when we look back later do we shoot our old selves a dirty look. If I had really know how serious skin cancer is, I never would have gone tanning. Thankfully I don’t have it, but I’m well past my bronze days. And this is just another reason. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. You are so relatable and I know that it can happen to me. I’m slapping on some sunscreen now!
This was an excellent topic, appreciate the education and info. Really makes you take a step back. Someone please send this post to the Jersey Shore crew.
Thanks for sharing your story-I teach teenagers and I see this all the time. Thanks for bringing awareness to this blog.
Thanks for sharing your story. I’m so sorry to hear it happened to you, but your story WILL help others.
Gracie, you are so amazing! your blog has quickly become one of my favorites and I am so glad you are raising awareness on important issues like this. I am so glad this story was shared- it is HORRIBLE & i am so sorry for this, but it is an important story for people to hear.
Julie says
Such an important issue and one I am very recently involved in. I grew up in the era of no sunscreen being used as a child and then tanned in beds and in the sun for all of my adult life. Even 9 months pregnant, I would be found daily in my bikini, basking in the sun with a book and taking in all those lovely rays of heat. I’m a sun baby, for sure! Last spring I noticed a tiny mole on my leg seemed to be a bit more noticeable than usual. As I continued to train for a triathlon during the summer, it got larger and larger. Unusual for me, I actually went to a dermatologist, who confirmed it was squamous cell carcinoma. Two minor surgeries later, I have a two inch long scar on my thigh, right above my knee. Researching the Moh’s procedure for skin cancer removal I was scared to death of what this scar would have looked like on my face, which is more often, where this type of cancer will show up. If there is anything I can wish on the younger generation - that one between the young children of today who DO use sunscreen and my generation (us oldies in our 40s) is that you take care of your skin. Please Please Please, don’t think it won’t happen to you. It happened to me and I was sure my skin was invincible.
Thanks again for bringing this issue up to your readers!
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this.
I used to tan all the time, and I worry that one day I’ll get skin cancer.
Ive also got some major premature wrinkling going on thanks to tanning.
Gracie says
@Julie - thank you so much for sharing your tanning story! Yours sounds a bit similar to my mom’s. She says how she NEVER wore sunscreen as a kid. Instead, she laid out for hours with baby oil on her skin! She had basal cell carcinoma removed from her face a few years ago, but has been doing well ever since.
Thanks again for sharing
xoxo G
Alex @ IEatAsphalt says
This is a great post! I work for a Dermatologist in Philly and had a huge wake up call when one of the first surgeries I worked on was a 28 year old woman with Melanoma on her chest. I fully admit that I am a former tanner and still get a lot of sun. I think it’s great that you’re bringing awareness about this. A nice tan might look nice now, but a huge surgical scar ain’t so hot. Let me know if there is any way I can help with this!
Julie says
You are welcome, Gracie. I don’t know how much it will help since I know that the scary stories never spoke to me before - I was just so sure it wouldn’t happen to me. Back then (yes, I too also went through baby oil by the case) I also thought that 40 was ancient, and it wouldn’t really matter when I got to that age. But here I am sitting at 42 and feeling like I’m 22, but with skin of a 52 year old
And it’s definitely not just the cancer scar. Almost overnight it seems, my beautiful smooth tan skin turn crepy and non-elastic. Overnight, I say! I would trade my 20s and 30s of tan for youthful skin throughout my 40s and 50s for sure. I finally realized 40 isn’t old 😉
Alex, I also still can’t avoid the sun. For one, it feels SO good to have the warmth on the skin. Two, I do triathlons and hike and absolutely am an outdoor girl, so I’m throwing on the 50 SPF, wearing baseball hats and living my life, but in a much safer way.
Gracie says
@Alex @ IEatAsphalt- Hi Alex!! Philly is my hometown 😀 I live in Bucks County.
I would love if you could help! Do you know of any good websites/articles regarding the dangers of tanning that I could post about? Or do you have any more stories that you’d like to share? Thanks so much for the comment
xoxo G