I only used sunbeds for 8 minutes a week 20 years ago ... now I've had 13 skin cancer ops

Stacey, 39, says her body became her enemy

- BY OLIVIA STRINGER

A WOMAN has issued a warning to teenagers after she got skin cancer from using sunbeds for just a year - 20 years before.

Stacey Galifskiy, 39, had to have a total of 13 operations.

The Fife tattoo artist said: “I'm usually so careful in the sun but when I was 19 I decided to use sunbeds to get a golden glow.

“I only went on for eight minutes a week but I'm pale and freckly. I have the type of skin you're not really supposed to go on them with.

“After lockdown, a friend I hadn't seen for seven months noticed that the mole on my forehead had changed and looked angry.

“When you look in the mirror every day, you don't notice small changes but as she hadn't seen me for ages she saw it looked different.

“Her dad had just had skin cancer so she said I should go to the doctors and I went just to appease her. A dermatologist tested the mole and said it was melanoma - the deadliest form of skin cancer.