In a move which she hopes will help to educate others on the importance of skin protection, one Irish woman has decided to document her journey since discovering she has pre-cancerous cells on her face as a result of years spent tanning.
Mags Murphy, who has taken to Facebook to highlight the repercussions of decades avoiding sunscreen and using sunbeds, has been inundated with support from the public in recent days.
"Guess if your reading this you'll know me, you'll know how much I love sunshine you'll know I've spent over a decade living in Crete tanning myself to "look good" thinking hey I'm brown I don't need high sun factor,(what a d*ck)", she wrote. (sic)
"I've spent summers doing sunbeds just for a tan in the sh*tty Irish weather and a childhood running the streets all day with not a thought for sunfactor."
In the post which has been shared hundreds of times, she continued: "Unfortunately all this lovely tanning has a price to pay cause now I have PRE cancerous cells on my face and have started treatment to remove them,"
"I've to use a cream that's going to burn them out,apparently it's quite painful and gruesome as the weeks go on but on the good side it should get rid of the cells and treatment and is only for a month."
Explaining that she intends to shares photos of her treatment and progress, Mags continued: "I heard all the warnings years ago and closed my eyes and ears to it all maybe someone will open their eyes to this if it's closer to home."
"I'm not looking for sympathy just to raise awareness. PLEASE SHARE especially with your tan loving friends," Mags requested.
Since posting the initial message, Mags has gone onto share a number of images which highlight the treatment and the effect it is having on her wellbeing.
"Face starting to tingle and itch today. Marks that were already visible burn a little," she told her followers while encouraging them to share the images and posts online.
"You are such a brave and outstanding person," wrote one of Mag's followers this week while another added: "Well done you for creating so much awareness."
"Fair play to you mags for raising awareness. Best of luck with your treatment. we should all embrace our lovely blue irish colour but i am sure we have all been foolish with the sun over the years," wrote another member of the public. (sic)
Remarking on the impact her posts could have on countless individuals, Mags wrote: "Well over 12,000 views now. People if your just viewing please it only takes 2 seconds to share, after all this is about trying to raise awareness." (sic)
