I went back to front on a sunbed for 20 minutes & now my face is peeling off – I need people to know how dangerous it is
A WOMAN has issued a stark warning after a 20-minute sunbed session left her with the skin on her face peeling off.
Natalia Armstrong took to TikTok to show the horrific aftermath of laying on a sunbed back to front for a whopping 20 minutes.
The young brunette, who urged others to not make the same mistake as she had, explained that she had put her face where her feet should’ve been – and her toes under the facial tubes.
Warning fellow beauty buffs about the dangers, Natalia said that the UV lights by the feet area are ”stronger than it is on the facial tanner”.
Although at first Natalia felt completely ”fine” and didn’t have any obvious signs of a nasty sunburn, it all changed just two days later, she recalled in the shocking video.
”My sisters woke up me up and were like ‘Look at your face, Nat. Please, just look at your face’.”
Sharing a snap of her red and tight skin just 48 hours after going on the sunbed, Natalia told her 141k followers that she ”couldn’t even smile properly”.
”It was really tight, I couldn’t smile, it felt weird. I thought ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna scar, I’m really gonna hurt myself […] after I’ve just paid £7,000 in Turkey for my teeth‘.”
However, the worse was yet to come, after one of Natalia’s friends who works at the hospital took one look at her finger and strongly advised her to get checked by a doctor.
In total, Natalia, whose fingers had ballooned up after the 20-minute sunbed session, had to had four rings ”chopped off” and her index finger developed an infection.
”They just kept on dashing loads of gunk out. They did clean it all and out this bandage on.”
”I am damaged – but it can be fixed,” said Natalia who added she was ”very lucky” that some of her friends had told her about laying upside down method – and she decided to give it a go too.
”So, me being me, I did it like everyone else does it. I didn’t know this was gonna happen to my face – otherwise, I wouldn’t have never done it.”
Urging everyone to spread awareness, Natalia said: ”Share it, repost it. If you know somebody who does this, please tell them not to.”
She added: ”I did never think this was a thing – until it happened.”
Sunbed risks
Sunbeds have long been linked to skin cancer and have even been banned in countries like Brazil and Australia.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there is significant evidence to show that using tanning beds causes melanoma.
They report that sunbeds increase the risk of skin cancer by up to 20 per cent, and also state that they have no positive benefits to our health.
Sharing her expertise, Carol Cooper, Sun Doctor, said: ”Let’s be clear about sunbeds. It’s not just ‘some’ experts that say they’re bad for your skin. It’s almost all of them.
”Actually, anyone who’s ever used a sunbed is at least 20% more likely to develop malignant melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer.
”UV rays damage the DNA in skin cells, so they’re more likely to mutate into cancer. You don’t even have to burn for it to happen.”
Risks of sunbeds
THE promise of a constant glowing tan is too tempting for some people to deny.
But while popping to the sunbed shop may seem harmless, people who use tanning beds should be aware of the risks.
Approximately 10 per cent of the population of Northern Europe use sunbeds on a regular basis, the World Health Organization says.
Some people use them for years on end, accumulating risk of serious disease.
We are here to give you the lowdown on sunbeds and if they are safe to use.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking.
Like the sun, they give out harmful UV rays that damage the DNA in your skin cells.
Over time, this may lead to malignant melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer – studies have shown.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there is significant evidence to show that using tanning beds causes melanoma.
They report that sunbeds increase the risk of skin cancer by up to 20 per cent, and also state that they have no positive benefits to our health.
Cancer Research back this statistic, adding that ” there is no such thing as a safe tan from UV radiation”.
One study found that sunbeds can almost double the risk of cancer compared to never using them – with women 83 per cent more likely to develop the disease.
While some people think tanning beds are safer than sitting out in the midday sun, according to Cancer Research, the risk is still twice as high when compared to spending the same amount of time in the Mediterranean sun at lunch time.
The Sunbed Association claim there is not enough evidence to link sunbed use with melanoma, adding: “It is over-exposure and burning that will increase a risk of skin cancer, not responsible UV exposure.”
But the WHO says: “The majority of tanning parlours provide inadequate advice to their customers.
“The use of eye protection such as goggles or sunglasses should be mandatory.
“However, as sunbed users aim to have an even tan, they often decide against protecting any part of their body.”
Referring to the link with skin cancer, the world health experts add: “Sunbeds for self-tanning purposes have been available for the last two decades and due to the long latency period for skin cancer and eye damage it has been difficult so far to demonstrate any long-term health effects.
“Even though the causes of malignant melanoma are not fully understood, tumour development appears to be linked to occasional exposure to intense sunlight.
“Sunbeds subject their users to intermittent high exposures of UVA and UVB radiation – this may provide the ideal setting for the development of malignant skin cancer.
“However, the few epidemiological studies that have been carried out to date have not provided any consistent results.”
Despite the WHO’s cautious stance on the skin cancer link, it discourages the use of sunbeds, quoting an expert who said the use of tanning parlours is like “an industrial-scale radiation exposure experiment”.
Regardless of skin cancer, sunbeds don’t just have long-term health risks.
Users have reported a range of short-term symptoms including itching, dryness and redness of skin, freckling and photosensitivity.
Common outcomes in the longer term, especially in fair-skinned people, may involve blistering of the skin.
“Sagging and wrinkling of the skin are an almost certain price to be paid by frequent sunbed users”, the WHO says – not quite the outcome you hope for when going to the sunbed shop for a beautiful, youthful look.
‘Please, just don’t use them at all’
Since being posted on the platform, the video has gone viral, racking up a staggering 1.2million views in just three days.
Many social media users insisted that Natalia shouldn’t have gone on a sunbed in the first place, let alone for that long.
One person wrote: ”I didn’t think sunbeds were a thing in 2025. It horrifies me I went on them in the 90’s!! They’re so dangerous.”
Someone else chimed in, sharing their horrific experience: ”Please just don’t use them at all, from someone who now has scars everywhere due to skin cancer removals.”
A third had seen the clip just in time and wrote: ”This is seriously a sign sent from the universe cause someone literally told me yesterday to go on it upside down to tan faster!
”[I] was gonna do that today & just seen this! Hope you recover quickly.”
”Sunbeds all together are a huge risk. I spent 6 months doing 9 minutes a week. Because of that I developed skin cancer,” a viewer wrote.
”sorry but common sense tells you that 20 mins on a sunbed is stupid, but hope you get better soon,” another added.