Skin cancer survivor on the power of meditation and sunscreen – use it every day even when it’s raining, dermatologist says
- After years of sunbathing and using tanning salons, fair-skinned Englishwoman Adele Hughes was diagnosed with Stage 3 skin cancer in 2019
- She shares her story, and the lessons about the sun’s dangers she passes on to her kids. A doctor emphasises the need to protect your skin, even on a cloudy day
From her teens to her early 30s, Adele Hughes was a tanning enthusiast. Growing up in Liverpool in northwest England, she would use tanning beds and sunbathe while on beach holidays in Europe, using SPF 8 sunscreen in the hope of getting a tan.
“I have very fair skin – I do not tan,” says the 41-year-old primary-school teacher, who is now based in Hong Kong “Looking back, I was so naive.”
This continued when she moved to Hong Kong in 2008 with her boyfriend, who is now her husband. Now she regrets the decades of UV exposure that led to a Stage 3 skin cancer diagnosis in 2019. “I don’t want to expose my skin now as I’m covered in scars,” she says. “People don’t understand how dangerous the sun is.”
In 2010, aged 31, a scare made Hughes rethink her habits. After noticing two moles on her body that started to change, she visited a dermatologist, who removed them. The doctor urged her to improve her skin care, citing her unusual amount of moles.
“I have over 150 moles on my body – on my back, legs, chest,” Hughes reveals. She started using SPF 30 sunscreen, covering up and staying in the shade.
But then life got busy. Hughes married and had two children and she neglected her annual skin checks.
