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Thursday, 21 August 2014

Pregnant 'tanorexic' is diagnosed with skin cancer

A self confessed tanorexic who refused to ditch her five sunbed-a-week habit when nine months pregnant was later diagnosed with skin cancer.
Jo Irving, from Blackpool in Lancashire, started using sunbeds when she was just 14 years old.
But the 32-year-old said she will never step foot in a tanning salon again, after hearing the devastating diagnosis from doctors last April
The mother-of-one first noticed a 'pearly white boil' on the left side of her nose four years ago.
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Self-confessed tanorexic Jo Irving was diagnosed with skin cancer in April 2012, after using sunbeds since the age of 14
Self-confessed tanorexic Jo Irving was diagnosed with skin cancer in April 2012, after using sunbeds since the age of 14
Self-confessed tanorexic Jo Irving, left when tanned and right now, was diagnosed with skin cancer in April 2012, after refusing to ditch her sunbed addiction when she was nine months pregnant. After surgery and treatment, she has now vowed to never step in a tanning salon again


While at an antenatal appointment Ms Irving mentioned the blemish to medics, having noticed it wouldn't heal.
She was shocked when tests revealed the mark was a basal cell carcinoma - a type of skin cancer,
After surgery to remove the disease, the flight attendant was left with a gaping hole in her face.
She had the spot, a 'rodent ulcer', removed, along with the tissue around it and a skin graft using skin from behind her ear to repair the damage.
Now, after spending more than half her life using sunbeds, Ms Irving, who was addicted to being brown, said she will never go near one again.

She said: 'I first noticed the lump four years ago.
'It was a small boil under the skin with a pearly white head on the top.
'It didn’t bother me in the slightest at first. I didn’t think much of it.
'The only time I thought about it was in the morning when I looked in the mirror to put my make-up on and then my make-up would cover it.
'I thought it would go over time but my boyfriend, Bobby, started mentioning it quite a lot to me and would tell me to go and get it checked out.'
Even when the lump started bleeding Jo says she still didn’t feel the need for any concern.
She said she first mentioned it to a doctor when she went for her post-natal check-up with her son Ryley, now two, in August 2012.
The 32-year-old first noticed a 'pearly white boil' on the left side of her nose four years ago. It was only in April 2012 that the expectant mother raised the blemish with doctors at an anti-natal check up. Tests revealed it was basal cell carcinoma - a form of skin cancer
The 32-year-old first noticed a 'pearly white boil' on the left side of her nose four years ago. It was only in April 2012 that the expectant mother raised the blemish with doctors at an anti-natal check up. Tests revealed it was basal cell carcinoma - a form of skin cancer
The small blemish was removed by surgeons, who then used skin from her ear to create a graft over the hole left
The small blemish was removed by surgeons, who then used skin from her ear to create a graft over the hole left
The small blemish was removed by surgeons, who then used skin from her ear to create a graft over the hole left. She said: 'The skin graft didn't take, and I was left with a hole in my face, which took over five weeks to heal,' right.

WHAT IS A 'RODENT ULCER'?

There are two main types of skin cancer, melanoma and non-melanoma.
A basal skin carcinoma is a non-melanoma skin cancer, and is the most common form of the disease.
It accounts for 80 per cent of all cases in the UK.
The cancer is often refered to as 'rodent ulcers'.
The commonest cause of a basal cell carcinoma is too much exposure to UV light from the sun or sunbeds.
They can occur anywhere on the body, but are most common in areas exposed to the sun, including your face, head, neck and ears.
BCC mainly affect fair-skinned adults and are more common in men than women.
Those at highest risk are:
  • people with freckles or pale skin and blond or red hair
  • those who've had a lot of exposure to the sun
  • people with outdoor hobbies or those who work outdoors
  • people who use sunbeds
  • people who have previously had BCC
Most are painless, and often first appear as a scab that bleeds and does not fully heal.
Some BCCs are very superficial and look like a scaly red flat mark, others have a pearl-like rim surrounding a central crater. 
If left for years, the latter, can erode the skin causing an ulcer.
BCCs can be cured in almost every case. 
Source: British Skin Foundation
'The doctor told me to just see how it goes, but if I see any changes in it and it keeps bothering me, I should go back,' she said.
'His reaction to it didn’t give me much cause for concern.
'I thought I was making something of nothing.
'It wasn’t until March the next year that I went for an appointment.'
Ms Irving said to become concerned when she was sent to Clifton Hospital in Lancashire, in April 2012, for an appointment with a specialist.
She said: 'When I got in to see the doctor, he looked at it straight away and called it a ‘rodent ulcer.’

'He said, "I don’t know what your relationship with the sunbeds is but I suggest you never use one again".
'I had two plastic surgeons working on me at Royal Preston Hospital - one working on my face and the other taking skin from behind my ear.
'Under the local anaesthetic, I could just feel the tugging and pulling, which is a horrible feeling.
'I could smell the burning of my flesh and because it was behind my ear, I could hear every little thing.
'The skin graft didn’t take, and I was left with a hole in my face, which took over five weeks to heal.
'And my ear was swollen from having the skin removed, and so painful I couldn’t bear for it to be touched.'
Ms Irving started using sunbeds when she was fourteen, at one point averaging five times a week.
She is now left with a small white scar, the only indication of her ordeal.
'I was addicted to being brown,' she said. 'I wouldn’t go on a night out unless I’d had a sunbed.

Ms Irving continued to use sunbeds when she was pregnant with baby Ryley, pictured
Ms Irving continued to use sunbeds when she was pregnant with baby Ryley, pictured
Ms Irving continued to use sunbeds when she was pregnant with baby Ryley, pictured left. She is now urging others to think before using sunbeds, adding: 'I decided to look at it in a positive way. It's a wake up call. It means I haven't used a sunbed since and I never will again'

'If I went on holiday and didn’t come back with a tan, I would be disappointed about the whole holiday.
'I even went on when I was pregnant with Ryley, for the full nine months.'
Ms Irving said now the ulcer has been removed, the cancer is gone.
But she said doctors have warned there is no reason why it won't return.
She said: 'Luckily, it was the least harmful form of skin cancer, basal cell skin carcinoma.
'I decided to look at it in a positive way. It’s a wake-up call. It means I haven't used a sunbed since and I never will again.

'It’s a wake-up call. It means I haven't used a sunbed since and I never will again...  I thought it would never happen to me. But it did'
- Jo Irving

'I always use a factor 30 or 50 when I’m out in the sun now. I used to use a factor 15 on my face so it didn’t go red, but on my body I’d start with a factor two, and a few days later I’d move to an oil.
'Now, I look back at pictures of myself when I went on the sunbeds all the time, and I looked ridiculous.
'All my friends used to joke and say I had ‘tanorexia’ because I could never see my true colour.
'I just thought they were jealous of my tan.'
Ms Irving, who is engaged to her partner Bobby Jones, added: 'I hope sharing my story helps others.
'I want to get the message out about sunbeds. And to make people aware its not just moles they should check.
'They should look for other changes in their skin too. When I think about how often I went on sunbeds since my teens, I feel embarrassed.
'I see people coming out of sunbed salons and I feel sick. People don’t realise the damage they are doing.
'I suppose I thought it would never happen to me. But it did.'

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