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by Lexi Lewis as told to LemondropAs a teenager growing up in Aberdeen, S.D., I cared about having fun and looking good. I hardly worried about my health. I started tanning at 14 because everyone else did. I never thought of the consequences. I just knew it made me look thinner, prettier, and feel more confident.
I continued tanning until my senior year in high school. I tanned a ton for my senior pictures and for my junior prom. I'd tan at least four times a week for about 20 minutes a session.
I remember adults telling me that some day I'd regret tanning as much as I did, but I didn't care because I just wanted to look good at the time and do what my friends were doing.
A Dangerous Mole
One day, in the fall of my senior year, I noticed a mole on the back of my right arm. It was much darker than my other moles but other than that, it didn't stand out. Like my other moles, it was perfectly round and it wasn't raised above my skin. My friend's mom worked at a dermatologist's office and she thought I should get it checked out but I was scared and wanted to pretend it didn't exist.
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The doctor removed my mole and told me it would be sent in to a lab to be checked. He also said that all visits to the tanning salon must stop. Well, I thought, I better tan just one more time. After I had the mole removed, I went tanning. I know it sounds stupid now, but at the time I wanted to keep my tan.I went on with my life as normal and a few days later my mom and I were at home when the phone rang. I saw that it was the dermatologist's number and I had a bad feeling. I didn't know why they would be calling after 5 p.m. so I had my mom answer.
I'll never forget the look on my mom's face or the sound of her voice when she answered the phone and heard my doctor's voice on the other end tell her that I had malignant melanoma -- skin cancer. She just looked so shocked and scared.
The "C" Word
The word "cancer" terrified me. I felt so angry. I couldn't believe I did this to myself. I didn't think it was fair. I was only 18. How could it be that it was completely legal to do this to myself considering that I had been a minor most of the time I was tanning?
Once I learned it was malignant melanoma, I never tanned again. A few days after the surgery, my doctor checked my body from head to toe for more moles. Several spots were removed but fortunately nothing else came back cancerous. I should have been happy that the surgery removed all the cancer. I should have let out a sigh of relief but I was terrified and felt that there was cancer all over me and there was nothing I could do about it.
I lived in constant fear that the cancer would come back. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and search my entire body for moles. What is so scary about melanoma is that there are no signs or symptoms of it until it spreads so you need to be looking for it at all times. It's not like you can take a blood test or a get a scan to find out if you have melanoma.
These days, I make sure that I check myself frequently and thoroughly. I also go to the doctor every six months to get checked out for new or changing moles. I've realized that I can't live in fear.
Making a ChangeI'm committed to making sure that other minors don't tan. In February 2007, I went with my dermatologist to the South Dakota State Senate to try to pass a law against tanning beds. We were one vote short. I've gone with him to the Capitol several times to tell my story and share why I think it's so important that tanning beds are monitored for those under 18.
At 22, I'm trying to create change so people can live healthier lives, but it's frustrating being an activist. Unfortunately, people are not educated enough about the dangers of tanning, and therefore, lawmakers do not feel regulating tanning beds is something important enough to spend time and money on.
My health scare motivated me to go into the medical field. I'm in nursing school and I work at a hospital as a nursing assistant.
One would think that people would be all for improving the health of children. My dermatologist and I are working on a bill to regulate and possibly even ban tanning for minors. I feel that this is so important because as a minor, it is hard to think of the long term consequences of your actions. Fortunately, I caught my skin cancer early on. Melanoma is deadly, and I don't feel that teenagers take it seriously. I didn't.
More great reads from around the web:
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Friday 28 August
By bt
Again, I have to ask. What is wrong with natural skin color? I am proud of my natural complexion and find it scarey that so many people find themselves so in need of enhancement
Friday 28 August
By George
I feel for you situation. However, like all activists, you want to take it too far and tell others what to do, by passing laws. If you don't want to tan, fine. If you think tanning ld monitored for minors, fine. Other than that, mind your own business. If there is no freedom to make mistakes, there is no freedom.
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Sunday 06 September
By jombie
BRAVO!!
Friday 28 August
By Coleen
Being tan is by now a very old mindset. People (young people in particular) still get it into their heads that being tan is the only way to look good. I think what we, as a society, should be spending a LOT more time changing that outlook and erroneous mindset by emphasizing how absolutely BEAUTIFUL a very fair complexion is. Point out people like Scarlett Johansson and Nicole Kidman (and many others), who have unbelievable porceline colored skin. Instead of being ashamed of it, blond hair/blue eyed girls with fair skin should be working to play up this lovely feature. Darker skinned people look wonderful with their darker skin. Lighter skinned people look wonderful with their lighter skin. Don't work so hard to get what the other one has to the detriment of your health.
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Friday 28 August
By Tony Thompson
haha, that's what you get. you sit in a box of sun. what the hell do you think is going to happen? it's concentrated sunlight. pluz, people are pasty ugly and fat in south dakota, hiding it with a tan won't help
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Friday 28 August
By new
I am black haired, brown eyed and have had pre-melanoma and many moles removed. I never used a tanning bed, but my mother exposed me to lots of sun every day under the belief it was healthy to build up toughness in the skin. This is what even the medical profession believed at the time. After lots of exposure every day for my first three years of life, it is true I never burned - but it was irrelevant because a tan IS a burn. That is what people don't get. It's just like when you broil a steak. It turns brown instead of red because it has been COOKED. Yes, you need some sun exposure for vitamin D - but not enough to change the color of your skin significantly.
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Friday 28 August
By Susan
As a suvivor of melanoma (in the eye) and the mother of a daughter who has had 4 melanomas, starting at age 25 (while she was pregnant with her second son), I wish that Everybody paid attention to the warning herein. Melanoma can spread fast and it can be deadly. All for a tan? I think not!
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Friday 28 August
By don
When I was 10 I got a terrible sunburn at the Jersey shore. When I was in my 50's I had a melonoma mole removed along with approximately 40 square inches of the skin on my back. That was over 15 years ago and fortunately for me that was the last instance of skin cancer. Constantly check your body for moles and have them tested, better safe than sorry.
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Friday 28 August
By Mischell
Tanning beds are not the problem here. Everything in moderation. You can die from drinking too much water but we need water. Just like our bodies need sunlight. It is a matter of parents educating themselves so they can educate their kids. It is also the responsilbility of tanning salons to educate their clients. My friend has owned a tanning salon for over 10 years in South Florida and he makes sure he educates his clients. I have seen him turn away teens who are too young. In Florida you have to be 16 to tan without a parents consent. He wouldn't tan anyone under 16 unless the parent was with them. I tan maybe once a week, twice at most if I'm not getting outside. It is not so much to be tan as for the fact I know my body needs sunlight. I've also seen my friend turn away people who come in and they are already pink from the sun. When I first started tanning with him he made sure I took it slow so I wouldn't burn. I'm tan pretty easy, dark hair and eyes but I have some Irish in me so I can burn .Also dermatologist use UV therapy on clients with certain skin conditions. In recent years there are been a lot of reports and articles written about the fact that we have gone too far with the anti sun tactics. That we have become so fearful of the sun that we avoid it and now most of the us suffer from Vitamin D deficiancy. Which leads to a whole host of internal cancers, like breast, prostate and colon cancer. I have personally know 3 people who had melanoma cancer. My father in law was diagnosed in his early 40's with melanoma in his brain. The tumor was removed and it wasn't until he was 72 that they discovered it again. Again it was in his brain. So not due to his sun exposure. He did die a couple months after the 2nd tumor was removed. The second person was a friend from our church who was only 32 when they discovered melanoma on his arm. He was fair skinned, light eyes and hair. He did not go out in the sun without protection, worked in doors. He died a year later. The 3rd person was a client who was in her early 50's and she discovered her melanoma under the nail of her left big toe. She first thought it was a bruise. But she received the best treatment possible and didn't even lose her toe but it was one of the rare forms of melanoma and agressive ones. Again, not due to any sun exposure. Also, what about all the reports that have been coming out these past years about the fact the SPF's we were using to protect us from the sun's harmful rays were in fact giving people cancer. Not to mention all the crappy food people put in their bodies. Remember the anti sun people like the dermatologists and suncreen companies are in business as well as the tanning salon people. It is important that people educate themselves and get all the facts instead of just believing all the hype. Was her melanoma caused by just the tanning beds, I highly doubt it. Was she also tanning outdoors? What was her diet? We don't know for sure. But do we really want the government involved. Like someone else noted, every state has their own laws on tanning beds. Be responsible.
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Friday 28 August
By tja
I am 55 years old......my skin looks like a teen-ager....why?......I have probably only had 5 sunburns in my life. I just hate hot weather and sun
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Friday 28 August
By Antoinette Fox
I too suffered from Melanoma last August actually, Have a rather large hole in my leg because of it. The surgery was long and i am missing a patch of skin on my upper thigh, and lymph nodes as well. I too tanned in tanning beds, sometimes 3, 4 times a week and layed in the sun too. Although i love being brown, I too am scared of getting any sun now. I would love to be part of anything that worns people of the dangers of tanning salons, and the sun - tanning creams are better and much safer to use..... After all, isn't being alive more important to you?
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Friday 28 August
By donald
I am sitting in my dining room waiting for my oncologist to call with the results of a pet scan that I had yesterday. The scan was to detect Malignant Melanoma which I've had since feb 05.-later 26 months of chemo and immunotherapy and I am one of the blessed ones who is still alive. All of this caused by overexposure to UV rays. So take it easy out there wear sunscreen-hats- and sun protective clothing and stay out of tanning beds
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Friday 28 August
By yngmaji
Boo-hoo, wah wah wah - something bad happened to me so I'm going to stop other people from having fun! Is this bratty chick really serious? Just because you have had a bad experiance doesn't mean that no one should do it. Why were you allowed to do it to yourself? Maybe, because you do not live in a police state like, oh - Iran. It is this type of thinking, this "protect me from myself" that will lead to a loss of our freedoms, of our choices, of our liberties. Lets start using your argument on other things. Car exhaust is unhealty for you. Why were we allowed to drive and gas ourselves? Lets ban driving! I'm such a klutz. I fell down on a sidewalk and busted open my head. Lets madate protective helmets for everyone at all times!
Please, think before you open your idiotic mouth and try to "protect" others from their actions. Ask yourself, would I want someone to irritate me and tell me crap that I already know? It is none of your business what someone else decides to do to their own body. It is not your right nor obligation to dictate unto me your personal choices. Don't blame the state for letting you do it; blame your parents for not properly parenting by allowing you to harm yourself - it was their job, not Uncle Sam's.
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Friday 28 August
By Terri
My mother purchased a tanning salon when I was 16 following my parents divorce. Honestly, I believe it was God's plan as this salon helped my mother support my brother and I. I tanned in the sun prior to that (12ish) and excessively tanned in the beds from 16 to 25. I was like everyone else...it wouldn't happen to me. At 41 in between pregnancies I had a mole checked out that was rising and falling, burning, itching etc. It was stage 1 melanoma. While I was receiving treatment for the cancer I ran into a old tanning customer who was getting treatment for skin cancer as well. They caught my cancer so early I only had to have a few layers of skin removed. Funny thing is...I remembered when I would lay on my stomach in the tanning beds that part of my skin would hurt...pre-mole. I have no doubt that my tanning as a teen and the tanning beds caused the cancer. In fact, I had an opportunity to own a tanning salon of my own and I told my family I couldnt' sell something that I know causes serious harm.
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Friday 28 August
By Kathleen
Two years ago when I was 21 I found out that the mole on my back was basal cell carcinoma which is a form of skin cancer. I had an additional mole removed on my chest that was pre-cancerous. I have brown hair and brown eyes, and am fair skinned- but I never try to tan. I burn very easily and have always worn high spf sunscreen at the beach, or whenever I know I'll be outside for awhile. The dermatologist says that it's likely the cancers were from very bad sunburns I had when I was younger.
I'm just making the point that even those who are not avid tanners are at risk for skin cancer. It can happen to anyone.
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Friday 28 August
By MARY
I'm an Oncology RN & deal with this everyday. Unfortunitly most of the new Melanoma patients are young. I've heard of patients as young as 9 years old. Tanning beds are deadly but most teens don't want to listen. I'm glad that you have taken this as a cause. Don't give up. You will get through to some.
It has taken 3 years for me to convince my daughters of the dangers of the sun & tanning beds. I tell them about the weekly Chemotherapy treatments that last a year. The best cure is to prevent by sunscreen & covering up.
Keep up the good work. Good Luck with Nursing. We need you.
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Friday 28 August
By umHELLO
Seriously, it's not fair? Starvation is not fair. Genocide is not fair. This is not poor you. You got skin cancer. You're better now. Unless your parents were morons and couldn't read the form they had to sign to let you tan, they knew it could cause skin cancer. They should have known better. As a teen 10 years ago I knew better. It's not complicated. Everyone knows tanning too much causes skin cancer. This isn't the tanning place's fault, it's your family's fault.
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Friday 28 August
By msmilo
I cannot believe the ego on this woman! I, I, I all the way through this piece, and then she has the audacity to make a comment about being a minor during most of the time she was tanning. Stupid is stupid, no matter what the age. Her arrogance as a minor caused her to ignore repeated warnings from people who tried to educate her to the dangers, and now she wants to outlaw the tanning salon for other minors because she was a bull-headed teen.
My mother died from Melanoma, and my daughter inherited it: at the age of 14 my daughter lost her inside right thigh. She was not a tanner and she did not have access to a tanning salon. She is a mother of three today and makes regular visits to her dermatologist to keep mer moles mapped and documented.
The young lady in this piece should accept responsibility for her condition, stop blaming the tanning salon, and grab a little gratitude while losing the attitude.
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Friday 28 August
By Megan
As a Tanning salon owner this erks me! If you look at studies it shows that most skin damage is done before the ago of 11. So yes, protect your children from the Sun Rays. Also how can she point the one mole to the tanning bed? what about all of the times she was in the sun before she actaully tanned in a bed. I bet that out weighs the number of times she actually tanned in a bed. Most states do have a regulation, In my salon anyone under the age of 16 must have a parents signature. AND under the age of 14 we do no allow then to tan. So for me to hear that there is no regulation is crazy! Also we only allow our tanners to tan 1 time per day... You may have some salons who do not regulate it and get all salons a bad name.
there are also alternative to tanning, if you are worried about the potential risk, and to me there is risks everywhere,.. when you get in a car, but that doesnt stop you from driving does it? Sunless tanning is als available in more salons. You are welcome to ask about those. Please dont ruin it for those who are educated about the tanning risks!
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Friday 28 August
By Troy
The key to tanning - be it indoors or outdoors - is MODERATION! As a salon owner - we teach our clients about "smart tanning" - which focuses on moderation as also the use of a high end indoor tanning lotion to add moisture to the skin.
We have several clients who were referred to our salon from their own doctors - because of acne, and other skin conditions. Also - tanning provides your body with vitimin D for strong and healthy bones. Tanning also helps with depression and gives you a nice healthy glow. Again - the key to tanning is MODERATION.
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