Sky News: A 10-year-old schoolgirl suffered 70% burns after a 16-minute session at an unmanned tanning studio, it has been revealed.
Kelly Thompson was taken to hospital a few hours after leaving the tanning shop in Port Talbot, South Wales.
Medics at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, where she was treated, were horrified at her condition.
Had she remained on the sunbed for another two minutes, they said she would have needed skin grafts.
Kelly has now been warned to keep out of direct sunlight for up to 10 years.
Over about the next three hours she became really red and was feeling cold, although she was burning up.
Her mother, Sharon Hannaford, 34, said the incident happened during the Easter school holidays.
"I gave Kelly some money to go to the fair with her cousin but when they got there, it was closed," she said.
"As they came back, they saw the tanning salon and went in, more out of curiosity than anything."
Mrs Hannaford said Kelly spent £8 feeding the unmanned sunbed.
"When she came home, she laid down and didn't feel too good and I noticed that she was a bit red in the face.
"Over about the next three hours she became really red and was feeling cold, although she was burning up. In the end I had to take her to hospital."
The story emerged on the day the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued new safety guidelines governing sunbeds.
The HSE is advising that nobody under the age of 18 should use such tanning facilities at all.
It also wants all tanning salons to be supervised by trained staff -- even if a salon is all coin-operated.
Read more hot stories Moms Are Talking About.
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Email9 comments so far | Post a comment now >>
why the hell did she allow her ten year old to do that in the first place. thats ridiculous. But look at the mother. I guess thats to be expected.
- Dara S
I don’t think her mother gave her permission to do it. It sounds like she wasn’t with her.
- Anonymous
Dara, that’s a pretty rude comment to a mother. She didn’t give her daughter permission to tan, she did it on her own with money she was supposed to spend at a fair. And just because a woman’s skin is darker than yours does not mean that she tans herself, maybe that’s just her skin tone.
- anonymous
well the mother first of all should of not let the 10yr old go to a fair by herself, but the mother is not to blame for the 10yr old in a tanning booth
- Anonymous
Gee… I wonder where this 10yr old learned about going to tanning salons? I think the mother’s OBVIOUS orangey-fake-baked skin gives a clue. Too bad her mother didn’t take it a step farther & talk to her daughter about the risk she, herself was taking every time she went to a tanning bed. Maybe if her daughter had been educated on the dangers of tanning, she would have never done it herself.
- Cassandra
Unmanned tanning studios strike me as a very bad idea in general. A perfectly responsible adult could suffer burns from a malfunction. Machines that generate UV Rays should be monitored by *someone* just as a precaution. Someone needs to be there to check on these things - and to keep children out. Poor girl. I hope she’s okay.
- Jill (the other one)
I’m in awe that this women was allowing her 10 year old to use a tanning bed in the first place. Stupid is as stupid does I guess.
- Bec Thomas
First of all, if her mother didn’t tan, how would her daughter gotten the idea in the first place. C,mon look at her face it is such a fake bake!!She obviously sees her mother doing it, so she thought of doing it too..Why would a 10 year old choose to tan in a salon then go to the beach. Her mother is to blame!!
- Jess
anonymous- clearly the mother’s skin color isn’t natural. unless she has a severe SEVERE case of jaundice as an adult.
- Dara S
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