Woman Risks Blindness After Not Using Goggles While Tanning

Health experts constantly issue warnings on the dangers of tanning beds and how they considerably increase chances of developing skin cancer even if used in moderation and with all precautions taken. Sam Laing, a 23-year-old woman from the UK, has learned the hard way that cancer is not the only enemy that comes with the use of sunbeds, as she’s currently suffering from a condition that could cost her her eyesight for not using goggles in the ten years she has been a “tanorexic,” as the Daily Mail informs.

Laing discovered tanning beds at the age of 13 and, since then, she’s been getting up on one to have brown, “sunkissed” skin for up to three times a week. She’s what is known as a “tanorexic,” and she’s also the first to admit to it. Because she did not want to end up with “panda eyes,” where she’d have more discolored areas around her eyes, she didn’t use goggles once when tanning, despite the fact that all experts warned they were a must, no matter whether one was talking exposure to natural sunlight or UV light from tanning beds.

Consequently, Laing needs surgery now to prevent her from going blind and that too will certainly affect her eyesight. She has developed pterygium, defined in the dictionary as “an abnormal mass of tissue arising from the conjunctiva of the inner corner of the eye that obstructs vision by growing over the cornea.” Surgery will remove the growth, but there is absolutely no certainty that it will not return, or that the intervention itself won’t affect her eyesight. Understandably, Laing is now sorry she never listened to advice and she wants other women to learn from her mistake.

“By the time I was 19 it was so important to me to always look brown, I was going on them up to three times a week. Unfortunately I never wore goggles to protect my eyes because I didn’t want to be left with white marks on my face. [A]bout three months ago the redness began spreading into the brown iris of my eye. Friends and family began asking me what the problem was, so I went to my local eye infirmary.” Laing begins her story by saying.

She has learned the name of the condition and knows very well what her odds are. She also knows that the damage done to her eyes could be permanent. “The most worrying thing is that even if the growths are successfully removed, they could return and I’ve been told I will have to wear dark glasses on sunny days in future. I just hope that what’s happened to me serves as a warning to other sunbed users that they can be really dangerous.” she further explains.