Influencer Natalia Armstrong warns about lying the wrong way on a sunbed after burning her face

Natalia Armstrong said she decided to lie on the sunbed the wrong way round as her friend had told her she would get a better tan. The 23-year-old went on a 20-minute sunbed on 18 January and put her face where her feet would normally go. She has been using sunbeds for two years now and has one once a week for 20 minutes, but said this is the first time she has lain the wrong way. That night she noticed her face was becoming red and over the next few days watched with horror as her skin grew tight and began to blister.

The influencer also noticed her fingers had become swollen, and she had a burn under one of her rings on her right index finger that looked as if it was infected. On January 22 she went to Montagu Hospital in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, where doctors cut off four of her rings and gave her antibiotics for her finger and cream for her face. They told her if she had waited much longer she may have lost her finger, but that her face would not scar from the damage.

Natalia took to her 144,000 TikTok followers to raise awareness for what happened and to discourage others from doing the same. Footage shows Natalia talking about her mistake saying the moral of the story is, do not listen to anyone's advice.

Natalia, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, said: “I will never do that again. I think it's actually put me off sunbeds for life. One of my friends previously told me to try it. I just thought while I was down there I'll give it a go because I had never heard anything bad. I didn't know facial tanners were a lot less strong than the tubes so I did it. I laid for the full 20 minutes that way.

“I felt alright when I got off the sunbed, I didn't even feel like I tanned. All of a sudden that night my face started to go red. I can't even explain it. You know when you smile and your face is tight and you feel like it's cracking. It tightened up then it blistered, then a really thick layer of skin started peeling off.

“I couldn't sleep. It was itchy, I had pains in my finger when my ring was off. I could not sleep for days and I'm not even exaggerating. I got cold sores all over my lips, I burnt all my lips. I've been going out with my friends and everyone's looking at me. I even had someone on the street pulling me up saying, ‘Excuse me, I'm sorry to ask but have you had a chemical peel? Your face looks amazing underneath’. I'm like, ‘no I've burnt myself on the sunbeds’.”

Now she is raising awareness for what happened on her TikTok page in the hopes that nobody else makes the same mistake.

Natalia said: “I do regret it, I'll never do that on a sunbed again. I'm glad it's happened to me and not someone else, I actually am. That's the kind of person I am. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, it's very dangerous. The amount of people that have commented on my post saying, Oh my god I do this, I'll never do it again. There's loads, it's dangerous, it needs to stop. I usually do half an hour on a sunbed and I know that's dangerous but I am used to it. I do tan quite well and that day I just did 20 minutes. I won't be using sunbeds again any time soon. I can't, I need to focus on my face and keep putting SPF on it.

“If I were to go back on the sunbed, I wouldn't lie that way. I would never go on for 20 minutes again and also I'd have the facial tanner off, completely off. I can just wear bronzer. I'll never forgive myself if I let someone else do it and that happens to them. Please do not lie where your feet should go because it's very dangerous. It's not worth the tan.”