Claire’s Story

During 2024, aged 39 years old Claire was diagnosed with stage 1 melanoma which was removed via wide local excision and there was no further spread. She used sunbeds as a teenager and has kindly shared her story with us to raise awareness about the dangers.

“My mole had started to itch a bit and was a bit flaky.”

I had a mole on my arm for as long as I could remember, it had always been dark and never bothered me, over the past few years my sister had been annoying me about getting it checked but it hadn’t changed so I didn’t bother.  My mum was then diagnosed with Lentigo Maligna melanoma and my mole had started to itch a bit and was a bit flaky so I started tracking it on an app called Skin Vision, and the first time the advice came back as “Looks ok, keep an eye out for any changes”, then 3 months later I took another pic and the advice came back as “See a doctor within the next 4 weeks”. This was May 2023. So, I called my GP, they asked me to send pictures and referred me to the dermatology clinic. For information on how to take a good image, click here.

“From then things moved quickly where I got offered a wide local excision and a sentinel lymph node biopsy and I had this surgery in March 2024.”

It was November 2023 by the time I had an appointment, and, on the day, the Dr said that it looked fine to her, but they would take it out as it wouldn’t do harm to remove it. Then it wasn’t until February 2024 that they called me to come in for the results where they told me they were sorry, but it was stage pT1b melanoma. From then things moved quickly where I got offered a wide local excision and a sentinel lymph node biopsy and I had this surgery in March 2024 which fortunately showed that the melanoma hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes.

I have since had one more mole removed, and this came back all clear.

“Being so young skin cancer was never at the front of my mind.”

I’m embarrassed to admit that, although not regularly, I did use sunbeds as a teenager, aged around 16 and 17 years old. They were often unsupervised, so no one checked my age. Being so young skin cancer was never at the front of my mind, and I naively thought I was invincible. I really hope stories like mine can be a warning for people. I also hope the UK follows places like Australia, Brazil and Iran who have all banned commercial/cosmetic sunbeds.

What advice would you give to other melanoma patients?

Talk to your friends, share your story, spread the message and awareness. I was lucky to have friends and family to support me.

Why is Melanoma Focus important to you?

Even in 2025 I still see people going to sunbeds, or not wearing SPF and it just baffles me. There is so much information and support on Melanoma Focus’ website. And being on Instagram is great for the younger generation to get more information and awareness