Girl suffers 70% burns on sunbed

[Killerabbit]

A ten-year-old girl has suffered burns over 70 per cent of her body after having a 16-minute session at an unmanned tanning studio.

The schoolgirl's mother is now calling for all unmanned salons to be shut down as a matter of urgency.

Within hours of leaving the tanning salon in Port Talbot, south Wales, Kelly Thompson was taken to hospital.

Medics at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, where she was taken, said if she had remained an extra two minutes, she would have needed skin grafts.

Kelly has now been warned to keep out of direct sunlight for up to ten years.

Neath Port Talbot Council has confirmed it is investigating the incident.

Her mother, Sharon Hannaford, 34, of Port Talbot, said: "These sunbeds are very high-powered and there is nobody there to prevent a youngster going in and doing this. I want them shut down."

She said she has passed on photographs of the burns her daughter suffered to council health and safety officers.

Mrs Hannaford, of Mansel Street, Port Talbot, said the incident happened during the recent Easter school holidays.

"I gave Kelly some money to go to the fair with her cousin but when they got there, it was closed. As they came back, they saw the tanning salon and went in, more out of curiosity than anything."

She said her daughter spent £8 feeding the unmanned sunbed, lying underneath for 16 minutes in total.

"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 where they said she had burns over 70 per cent of her body. If she had stayed another two minutes, she would have needed skin grafts.

"She ran out of money. If she had had more, this could have been worse."

She warned: "You can tell a child not to do something until you are blue in the face but when they see other people using these salons, and they are open to anybody, they are going to try it."

So do you think Sunbeds should always be monited?

I've acctually been to port talbot, and I know the tanning place they are talking about. I remember saying to a friend I was with, "should there not be people watching that place, a kid could go in"
Looks like I was right by saing that

 

[Straitjacketeering]

This story along with other acts of irresponsibility and stupidity I find HILARIOUS!

Sixteen minutes trying to look pretty ten years of dodging something that's everywhere.

 

[Captain Blackout]

Why do bad parents with stupid kids always think everyone else is just as dumb as they are?


Tanning salons are stupid to begin with... 10 year olders that fry themselves in them... It's just natural selection...

I do criticize one thing about the place though, and that far is their fault, didn't anyone consider unwise to let a 10 year old use a tanning salon at all? Don't they have ANYONE working there at all? Shouldn't they request an ID to verify the 16 year old age limit? I don't mean manning the machine but just looking over the place at all?

That's kind of the whole point. The OP says the salon is unmanned.

BTW you heartless nightmares ... This girl is at a huge risk for skin cancer now for making a mistake. A ten year made a mistake. Yes, existentially speaking it's her fault. Morally speaking the tanning salon should be paying her medical bills for years to come.

 

[Cylem]

Jeeze, the girls at my school only use those things for eight minutes at a time and they still look like they've got leather skin...

It was obviously the salon's fault, but you've got to wonder what kind of parent wouldn't warn against those things... Not to mention send them off alone. How old was the accompanying cousin if they thought that letting the ten-year-old fry herself was a good idea too?

 

[Fox1789]

they should be monitered no matter what the age is.. im a licensed cosmetologist and our state requires that all tanning beds need someone to be there.. also the person running the tanning bed sets the time for the client, because most times with fair skined people they think because its fake sunlight that they wont get sunburned and they want to stay in for about 20 minutes. Also these tanning beds need to be inspected because some of them malfunction and they can get way too hot these beds need to be supervised with adults cause most of them can be idiots


http://www.scdhec.com/health/radhlth/tanning_faq.htm

 

[Rascarin]

All these people saying its the girls stupid fault... shes ten. I remember being ten years old; you just don't understand the world the same way. You think you're invincible. Ignorance and naivete (sp?) don't equal stupidity.

I know someone who did exactly the same thing, only this guy was like.. 18 years old? His skin fell off in chunks because he fell asleep on the bed. Those beds are lethal, and should never be operated without supervision.

 

[Knight Templar]

No, monitoring isn't needed. Underage restriction program IS. (Having a personal ID card or something.)

I agree with this really, it was the girls own fault.

Used properly these things often cause cancer, imporperly used they can kill you outright.

Yeah thats just the kind of thing to leave uncontroled and unmonitored when stupid people live everywhere.

Yes the kid was stupid, but since she was more or less allowed to do so she isn't the only person at fault, in fact she holds the least. At any rate a ten year old won't understand what a sunbead does and that they are bad things, so this is more a case of ignorance rather than stupidity.

 

[BubbleGumSnareDrum]

Tanning salons are a stupid idea to begin with. They only stem from the vanity that has been established as being "part of being a woman."

It's fucking ridiculous.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Yes for the love of god monitor the F***ing sunbeds! You can get skin cancer from these things as easily as from the sun itself.

Maybe not quite that easily.


I don't think monitoring is necessary, since IDs are chipped now anyway. Just have a scanner at the door and force people to bring their ID cards if they want to get in.

If they steal one from someone else then burn themselves, they're just stupid. Go get burnt if you're that desperate.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Wow and where was her mom during this? I know she was with her cousin but if she is that dull...

 

[traceur_]

Tanning salons are a stupid idea to begin with. They only stem from the vanity that has been established as being "part of being a woman."

It's fucking ridiculous.

This, honestly this vanity and obsession with the "perfect tan" sickens me.

 

[Lios]

This is just another FunPark parenting issue, where the parent does absolutely nothing to keep their own child safe and keep them out of areas that warn parents that places are not for kids under certain ages, and then when shit goes wrong,t he parents complain, and everything is shut down because of the moo-mommy, and the dumbfuck kid.

 

[Caliostro]

Why do bad parents with stupid kids always think everyone else is just as dumb as they are?


Tanning salons are stupid to begin with... 10 year olders that fry themselves in them... It's just natural selection...

I do criticize one thing about the place though, and that far is their fault, didn't anyone consider unwise to let a 10 year old use a tanning salon at all? Don't they have ANYONE working there at all? Shouldn't they request an ID to verify the 16 year old age limit? I don't mean manning the machine but just looking over the place at all?

That's kind of the whole point. The OP says the salon is unmanned.

By "unmanned" I figured they meant the actual machines, as in, they had nobody checking how long each people stayed or anything... But figured they'd have at least 1 person at the door or something... More so to prevent vandalism of the machinery than out of care for people, but nonetheless. I maintain my original point, they have some fault for not having anyone there in case a child wonders off or something, but she is 10...

BTW you heartless nightmares ... This girl is at a huge risk for skin cancer now for making a mistake. A ten year made a mistake. Yes, existentially speaking it's her fault. Morally speaking the tanning salon should be paying her medical bills for years to come.

Ain't that a *****... I'm physically incapable of empathizing or even sympathizing with stupidity... IF she was 6, and wondered off in there, I'd feel sorry. If she had accidentally gotten trapped in there for the whole time, I'd feel sorry for her. If there was someone watching her, supposed to keep track of time, if she was expecting to be monitored, and said person didn't, resulting in her getting fried, I'd feel sorry.

This is "none of the above" though. She's 10, old enough to know sticking yourself in a giant grill for a quarter of an hour may not be a good idea. She knew she wasn't being monitored. She should have figured out there's a reason the machine ends after the time it does. It wasn't a simple mistake, it was one pretty fucking massive dickmove after another.

 

[Grampy_bone]

I don't think tanning beds should exist at all. Women who use them get all brown and leathery and crusty and wrinkly skin. That's just nasty. It's like paying money to age twice as fast as a normal person. Gross. Blech.

Um, what were we talking about again?

 

[Fudj]

While bad Parenting is a factor lets not forget the biggest villan here, no no nothe the fashion industry, but Stupid Children.

Something needs to be done about this epidemic of stupid kids, maybe a free ipod hanging over a cliff? that may solve a few problems.

 

[poet_lawreate]

Most tanning places I have seen (I would never use them, but one of my favourite cafes is in the same building as one and the bathroom is in there) are 18 Only. I get funny looks just for going to the bathroom, but I do look young.

 

[Slayer_2]

As much as I HATE tanning, even naturally (it's a stupid fad) she should have used her brain and read the sign/manual/whatever there is to guide you on how to tan.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Sun beds are stupid, period. But, we must be honest here... the girl should've known better and the mother should've just scared her with talk of skin cancer and such.

Oh well...