Woman who had skin cancer TWICE due to tanning beds creates her own fake tan product

A woman who had skin cancer twice due to sunbeds has launched a fake tan product to push for "safe tanning".

Lisa Costello, 42, started a fake tan mouse product after she "learnt the hard way" and was diagnosed with skin cancer twice before the age of 40.

From her mid-teens until her early thirties, Lisa was obsessed with being tanned and and described herself as an "aggressive sunbed user".

But her years of tanning caught up with her in 2018 when she diagnosed with melanoma and again in 2021.

After her diagnoses Lisa made it her mission to protect her own skin and launched a tanning product that is "100%" safe for everybody to use.

Lisa said: "After I was diagnosed I felt this urge to just keep pushing safe tanning and no one was pushing it with my message."

Lisa started tanning when she was only 15 years old and was using the UV tanning beds twice a week. When she got older, she reduced to twice a month.

After years of sunbeds, the driving instructor from Colchester, Essex, was diagnosed with melanoma in December 2018.

She said: "I found a mole I didn’t like so went to GP. they referred me to a dermatologist and two weeks later it was taken off.

"I waited six weeks for the results… It was melanoma (stage 1)."

Following a wide local excision surgery - which removes an area of diseased tissue - she was given the all-clear in January 2019.

Fast-forward to 2021, Lisa was hyper-aware of the moles on her body and was checking them "religiously."

In February, she noticed a change on her skin and went to GP.

She said: "They referred me again within two days I was back in my dermatologist's office and then two days after it was taken off.

"I waited one week for the results and then got the dreaded 'no caller' ID on my phone.

"It was the hospital asking me to go in and talk about my results.

"The next day I was there and received the news it was another melanoma!

"This time stage 0 ( in-situ) I had got it even earlier now!"

Since then she's had a further six moles removed that have all been benign.

On top of her own journey with skin cancer, her father passed away in 2011 due to the same condition - motivating her even more.

Lisa said: "In 2011, my dad found a mole that his doctor didn’t like the look of so he had it taken off, it came back as melanoma.

"He was checked for three years every three months but unfortunately in June 2015 he fell really ill.

"He went to A&E and they found a 3.5cm brain tumour on the right side of his brain… it was melanoma!

"He died five months later November 18th 2015."

With her new business venture, Lisa want's to change people's views on tanning and raise awareness about melanoma.

She said: "It took me nearly a year from the idea to the launch to get it all done.

"At the moment, it’s still very small but it’s very early days and I will continue to push the tan along with the message.

"My aim to to change people’s view on tanning and just to appreciate how dangerous melanoma is!"