“I didn’t think about the dangers at the time, because when you’re young, you don’t think that skin cancer is going to affect you. You certainly don’t think you’re going to get diagnosed in 20 years time.”
Stacey Galfiskiy after having her mole removed.(Image: Stacey Galfiskiy / SWNS)
A woman has issued warning after she got skin cancer from using sunbeds for just 12 months over 20 years prior. Stacey Galifskiy, 39, says she has always been careful in the sun due to her pale skin and red hair.
However, when she was 19-years-old, she decided to start using sunbeds to get a winter tan. The tattoo artist, from Fife, Scotland, only used the beds for eight minutes a week for around a year.
Then, 20 years later, she discovered a discoloured mole on her forehead upon her friend pointing it out. After being referred to a dermatologist, she was told the mole was cancerous, and had four operations to get it removed.
In total, Stacey has had 13 operations to remove eight moles from her body, over a three-year period. After her cancer scare, Stacey became extremely anxious and constantly monitored every mole on her body.
Stacey Galfiskiy’s scar after having her mole removed. (Image: Stacey Galfiskiy / SWNS)
She was diagnosed with health anxiety, but has since discovered a mole mapping service, that tracks her moles annually, and has allowed her to enjoy life again. She believes the skin cancer was linked to her sun bed use twenty years before.
Stacey 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 really pale and freckly.
“I have the type of skin that 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.
“A dermatologist tested the mole and said it was melanoma. After the operations, I became extremely distrustful of my body, it became my enemy.
The tattoo artist, from Fife, Scotland, only used the beds for eight minutes a week for around a year.(Image: Stacey Galfiskiy / SWNS)
“Every surgeon I’ve seen has commented on how young I am, and then given a headshake when I say I used sun beds.
“It gives me such a fear the amount of people that actually still use sunbeds, especially younger people, and they just have no concept of the dangers long term.
“I didn’t think about the dangers at the time, because when you’re young, you don’t think that skin cancer is going to affect you. You certainly don’t think you’re going to get diagnosed in 20 years time.”
After a year, she decided to stop, and went back to being extremely sun-conscious, making sure to use factor 50, and stay in the shade where possible.
Stacey said that the doctor didn’t seem overly concerned, and she was then sent to a dermatologist, who did a test on some irregular looking moles.
The tests showed that the angry looking mole was melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Stacey then had a total of four operations to remove the cancerous mole, and to pull her skin forward to cover the scar.
Over the next three years, Stacey had a total of 13 operations to remove two moles from her forehead, two from her cheek, one from her ear, one from her stomach, two on her leg, and one on her bum.
Three of the moles were early-stage skin cancer, whilst the others were actively growing moles, meaning they could become cancerous if not removed.
When she was 19 she decided to start using sunbeds to get a winter tan. (Image: Stacey Galfiskiy / SWNS)
Stacey’s cancer scare made her extremely anxious, and she began constantly checking her remaining 73 moles, to track any changes.
She continued: “My body became the enemy. I counted my moles limb by limb and took photos of them all to refer back to. I got diagnosed with health anxiety, it was debilitating.”
Stacey soon realised that her moles were impossible to track, but after her mum read about mole mapping in the paper, she visited Nuffield Hospital in Glasgow in January 2025, and paid £130 for their mole mapping service, which will flag up if there’s been any changes over the year.
She added: “They have this big state of the art camera that scans your whole body, and flags up anything that looks suspicious, and then a dermatologist looks you over.
“Mole mapping has taken away so much of my anxiety and helped me to stop being afraid of my body. I now feel like I enjoy life again, instead of being fearful of the future.
“I don’t think sunbeds should be allowed to be honest. There definitely needs to be more information and clearer warnings out there on how it affects you long term.”
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