This Woman's Graphic Series of Selfies Will Make You Think Twice About Tanning
Like most people, Mags Murphy, 45, had heard of the dangers of spending too much time in the sun without proper protection, and, like most people, she chose to ignore it.
But after the Dublin native discovered precancerous cells on the skin of her face due to years of tanning indoors and out, she's decided to no longer ignore the damage. To treat and remove the precancerous cells, Murphy has decided to undergo a treatment that requires her to apply a topical cream called Efudix for a month that will essentially burn them out - a painful and gruesome process.
She created a Facebook page called "Mag's Murphys Journey" devoted to showing the stages of her treatment, and for the past two weeks, Murphy has consistently shared graphic images of her face and descriptions that track her progress.
"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 [SPF],'" she wrote in her first post. "I'm sharing this to try and raise awareness to sun damage and using high factor sunlotion. 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."
In her first photo, which is from the third day of treatment, you can see some of the damage starting to show in a red blotchiness.
By the sixth day, you can see a lot of redness developing. "Feels like I shaved my face with a dry razor," she wrote.
By the ninth day, she reported that her face felt hot, tight, and itchy. "The ones on my forehead feel like someone's put a cigarette out on me," she wrote.
By day 12, she reported that her face felt "like a giant cold sore."
On day 14, she reached the halfway mark of her treatment, which is when the real pain began. "My face is burning and throbbing today, my chin feels the worst, it's a little swollen and I'm sure something is going to erupt from under there," she wrote. The following day, she wrote that the itching was becoming unbearable. "My face burns so much I've felt like throwing up at times today," she wrote.
On the 17th day, her face was so swollen and so tight that she was having trouble smiling, yawning, eating, or opening her mouth at all.
On Jan. 19, the 19th day of her treatment, Murphy is beginning to see progress and is plowing forward with her selfies despite being in an inordinate amount of pain.
Remember, everyone: Always. Wear. Sunscreen.
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