We know tanning beds are terrible for our skin (I’m honestly surprised they’re still in business), but laying out in the sun on the beach or at the pool can do just as much damage over time. I still enjoy a good trip to the beach, but I’m the girl with the umbrella that attaches to my chair and shades my entire body (yes I get stares, but so what?). So when I saw Mags Murphy’s Journey on Facebook, I knew it needed to be shared.
Murphy, an Irish woman living in Crete, Greece for the last 10 years, said in her Facebook post that she spent more than a decade tanning herself to “look good.” Her thoughts: “Hey I’m brown I don’t need high sun factor [SPF].” Unfortunately, it looks as though all those years of basking in the sun finally caught up with her. She discovered precancerous cells on her face, and for her treatment, she decided to try a topical cream called Efudex that attacks the precancerous cells and prevents them from multiplying.
You May Also Like: I Had My First Mole Removed to Prevent Skin Cancer and It Wasn’t What I Imagined
Murphy’s Facebook page documents her experience using the treatment thus far (23 days and counting; the process should take about a month) and its intense side effects. Scroll through to see the jaw-dropping (and at times hard to look at) snapshots of her journey.
