My daughter, 24, died after using nasal tanning sprays…she was brave but my message is simple: avoid them at all costs

The Sun

10 hours ago

UNWINDING on their caravan holiday, Deborah Phillips couldn't help but notice her daughter looked even more bronzed and glowing than usual.
Paige Roberts, then 22, a regular sunbed user, let her mum in on her tanning secret.
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'I'm using these nasal sprays,' Paige said, showing her a little brown bottle.
Deborah, 53, tells The Sun: 'I said, 'Oh my god. What does that do then?' She was this gorgeous colour anyway, but I'd never heard of it before.
'She explained it enhanced her tan when she did sunbeds, if she squirted some up her nostril. The man at her salon, who sold it to her for £47, said it would give her a 'really nice result'.
'I think she was quite attracted to it, wondering just how brown she could go. I warned her to be careful but I didn't think more of it at the time because I didn't know what was in it or how harmful it could be.'
Just four months later, Paige, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, would be diagnosed with cancer after finding a lump in her mouth.
She died of the disease in March, aged just 24, after the disease spread to her brain and lungs. It was less than two years since that conversation while on holiday with her mum.
Paige was adamant she knew what had caused her cancer.
'She was convinced from the start that it was because of using nasal tanning sprays,' Deborah says. 'It was the first thing she told the consultant when she was diagnosed.
'No one person could ever prove it caused her death, but my message to others is pretty simple: Avoid at all costs. Don't use the sprays. Don't use sunbeds.
'If anyone knew the pain of losing their best friend, and their only daughter, they wouldn't touch them either.'
Alarming time-lapse video reveals how tiny 'dark patch' morphs into melanoma
Nasal tanning sprays contain an ingredient that is illegal in the UK. But tragically, because the product falls under cosmetics, rather than medicines, it is not regulated.
Youngsters are buying them on social media or in Paige's case, at her sunbed shop, to deepen their tan.
Only those now facing the consequences of using the 'tan accelerators' are desperately warning others to avoid them.
Paige, who worked in Cafe Rouge at Centre Parcs in Longleat Forest, had had an obsession with sunbeds for years.
It was only after her boyfriend, Jason, mentioned that Paige had suffered some fainting and sickness episodes that Deborah grew concerned.
Deborah, who lives less than ten miles away in Warminster, Wiltshire, says: 'She looked amazing, I'd be lying if I said she didn't. But I said to her, 'well this is a bit extreme isn't it? What's all this about?' And she just kind of passed it off.
'I said, 'just be careful. You don't want to make yourself ill going on these things', but it was her choice. We weren't living together. I had no idea how often and how long she was tanning for.
'I just never thought it was going to get as bad as it got.'
In June 2023, Paige visited her mum and pointed to a little swollen lump between her two front teeth.
Deborah, who also has sons Vinnie, 25, and Sam, 28, says: 'It just looked a bit inflamed - like she'd just overbrushed her gums a bit.
"I told her, 'it'll probably be gone in a few days. Just don't brush too hard around that area'. It didn't worry me because it was very small.'
But over the next few weeks, it kept getting bigger. Deborah says: 'It was really sticking out in the little gap between her two front teeth but even then she wasn't scared or suspicious.
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'She sort of made a joke of it. She said that when she was taking orders, if she said the word 'fries' it would pop out even more and feel a bit strange.
'I just said, 'Look, you really need to go to the dentist about that'.'
'So stunned'
But when Paige went, she was left shocked by the dentist's alarming verdict.
Deborah, who has a long-term partner, says: 'The dentist just looked at Paige and literally told her, 'I'm not touching you. It's melanoma '.
'When she rang to tell me she was just so stunned and upset. Neither of us even realised you could get it in the mouth.'
Paige was referred for further tests at Salisbury District Hospital.
In July, she was referred for a biopsy and felt reassured when a doctor told her, 'We remove these things all the time, don't worry about it.'
But in August 2023, while Deborah was working as an activities co-ordinator at a care home, she got another, even more distressed call from Paige.
'She rang me, crying and said, 'Yes, it's positive. It's melanoma',' Deborah recalls.
'I went out into the garden at work, pacing up and down, crying. I actually thought I was going to stop breathing. I was in such a mess.
'I kept thinking, 'What are we going to do and how are we going to deal with this?''
Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer which in most cases, is caused by UV rays from sunlight and sunbeds. It develops in cells called melanocytes, which are found in areas not exposed to the sun, too.
Paige became quite obsessed with photographing the roof of her mouth with her mobile and looking at the pictures. The doctors thought she was a bit of a medical mystery because of the pigmentation moving around
Mum Deborah
Rarer forms of melanoma affect the inside of the mouth, nose, vagina and rectum. These have varying symptoms, including ulcers, lumps and pigmented lesions.
Paige's oncology consultant told her he planned to remove the melanoma with surgery.
But within weeks of her diagnosis, Paige started getting new, even more bizarre symptoms - black marks all over her mouth that appeared to move around.
Deborah says: 'They looked like little blank ink marks or pigmentation. They weren't lumpy at all but they were very strange because they seemed to move position all the time.
'Paige became quite obsessed with photographing the roof of her mouth with her mobile and looking at the pictures.
'The doctors thought she was a bit of a medical mystery because of the pigmentation moving around.
'They listened to her concerns about it being caused by the nasal tanning spray but they didn't know much about them and couldn't say whether they were the cause.'
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What are nasal tanning sprays and why are they dangerous?
Nasal tanning sprays claim to accelerate tanning and are often sniffed prior to sunbed use.
They have become a huge hit on social media, where most advertising is targeted towards young people, often women, over TikTok and Instagram.
They contain a substance known as melanotan II which, when inhaled, reaches the bloodstream and may stimulate melanin production.
According to the Melanoma Fund, activated melanin creates a tan but 'may also encourage abnormal skin cell changes in response to UV exposure'.
The process is considered unsafe and melanotan II is illegal in the UK.
But due to the product falling under cosmetics, rather than medicines, it is not as tightly regulated.
Earlier this year the Chartered Trading Standards Institute [CTSI] urged the public to avoid any tanning product that is 'inhaled or ingested'.
It says side effects include high blood pressure, nausea, vomiting and changes in mole shape and size. It can also cause respiratory problems.
Visit your GP for any persistent symptoms unusual for you, or changes to your body, such as lumps, pain, or bleeding.
Further biopsies led her surgeon to opt for a more radical form of surgery at Southampton Hospital in September 2023.
It involved removing her two front teeth and part of the roof of her mouth to remove all traces of melanoma. A fake denture was used as a fake roof and skin grafts were also taken from Paige's leg.
Brave Paige remained in hospital for four weeks and was fed through a tube as her mouth healed.
'Incredibly upsetting'
Deborah says: 'Even though she had a denture and her real teeth had been replaced, when she was asked to remove them so doctors could examine her mouth, it was incredibly upsetting.
'Paige was in absolute despair when she looked at herself in the mirror. It's not what any young woman wants to have to deal with.'
In November, Paige was scheduled for a second surgery to remove more of the roof of her mouth when more black spots appeared.
She then began immunotherapy in January 2024 - - but only after Paige had harvested her eggs after doctors warned the cancer treatment could affect her fertility.
She only had four treatments before the cancer spread further, to her neck. By June, she was undergoing intensive radiotherapy for six weeks, Monday to Friday.
Despite some of the distressing side-effects, which included a blood infection and extreme bowel problems, she made sure she enjoyed her life to the max.
Deborah says: 'She'd still go out with the girls, put make-up on and have cocktails. She even continued smoking [which she had done since a teenager].
'I was like, 'oh my god, I don't want you doing that and making things worse', but now I'm glad, because it gave her time just to live her life.'
The radiotherapy shrunk the cancer in Paige's neck. But in November 2024, scan results showed her cancer had progressed to her lungs.
Then, in January 2025, ten brain lesions were found following another scan. She was referred to Bristol Royal Infirmary for gamma knife therapy - a computer-guided form of radiation therapy - to remove the tumours there.
Deborah says: 'The consultant was again very positive. He said, 'Don't worry, Paige. You won't lose your hair'.'
The family had every hope that the treatment at Bristol Royal Infirmary would work - but it was never to go ahead.
'We went in to see Paige's consultant just before her treatment was due to start,' Deborah says. He got down at eye level with her in the chair and said, 'Right, I can't perform this'.
'Paige and I just stared at him. And then he said, 'The trouble is, I could have targeted the ten lesions, but I'm so sorry. We've been looking over and over at your MRI scans. They show you've got about 70 lesions on the brain'.
'Paige instantly broke down and said, 'I don't want to die'. It was awful.'
On January 30, another cancer expert made a final call. Deborah says: 'She told Paige, 'You could have whole brain radiotherapy, but it'll make you so, so sick, so for a bit of quality of life I'm stopping all treatment now'.
'Paige broke down. I just kept thinking, 'Any minute now I'm going to wake up. I'm not having it. Someone is winding me up'.
'I felt completely frantic. I kept going: 'Is it money? I'll get the money. There must be something?''
Paige's health declined fast. Her lungs filled with fluid needing up to 1.5L drained daily, and she began having seizures.
On February 24, they had one last laugh. Deborah remembers fondly: 'She came over with a friend who'd been staying and helping her and were all giggling about Married At First Sight UK because she knew one of the guys who was on it.'
Paige was admitted to Dorothy House Hospice Care in Bradford-Upon-Avon on February 28. She passed away peacefully on March 2 this year, surrounded by 14 of her most loved friends and family.
Deborah says: 'I remember leaving her to go home and have a shower but halfway home I got a call telling me to come back. It was the worst journey back ever. I thought I was going to faint.
'But her last moments were surrounded by all of us. We played the song Riptide and her friend sang. She was remarkable and brave throughout everything she went through.
'I joked when she first got her diagnosis: 'You're not going anywhere because you're looking after me when I'm old!'
'We were like peas in a pod. We'd holiday together. We did jazz dancing together. She was everything I suppose anybody could want in a daughter, and I can't stand it because my time's been cut so short.'
Not a day goes by when Deborah doesn't think about her daughter. Her lounge is filled with Paige's keepsakes - her favourite teddies, furniture, cushions and ornaments.
'She's all around me,' says Deborah.
'We actually call the room I spend a lot of my time in 'Paige's room' because it has so many of her things.'
Now Deborah hopes her loss will be a deterrent to others using sunbeds and nasal spray.
She is backing a campaign by Alyson Hogg, founder and CEO of tanning brand Vita Liberta, to ensure all sunbeds come with public health warnings, like the ones found on cigarette packets.
She says: 'More needs to be done to make people realise the dangers. My gut feeling is the excessive tanning caused Paige's cancer.
'I also believe that the spray could be linked because, of course, the nose and mouth are connected. But I'll never know. I still don't believe I won't get to see her again.
'I've lost my best friend and I wouldn't wish that on any parent.'
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What is melanoma, what are the symptoms and how can you prevent it?
Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer that has a tendency to spread around the body.
It is diagnosed 16,000 times per year, and tragically takes the lives of 2,340 people per year.
The number of people being diagnosed with melanoma is increasing, and it is the 5th most common cancer in the UK.
But it is also one of the most preventable cancers, with 86 per cent of cases in the UK avoidable.
The best way to protect yourself from melanoma is to be sun safe - wear SPF every day, wear a hat and sunglasses and keep out of the sun in the hottest hours. It is also advised to avoid sunbeds.
People who are fair-skinned, have blue or green eyes, blonde or red hair and a large number of freckles or moles are more likely to get skin cancer.
Surgery is the main treatment for melanoma, particularly if it is found early. This will involve removing the affected tissue in the skin.
Radiotherapy, medicines and chemotherapy are also sometimes used to try and stop the cancer from growing. Treatment depends on the severity of the disease.
What are the symptoms?
The key thing to look out for are changes to an existing mole, or a new mole on your skin.
Most experts recommend using the simple 'ABCDE' rule to look for symptoms of melanoma skin cancer, which can appear anywhere on the body.
There are five letters/words to remember:
A symmetrical – melanomas usually have two very different halves and are an irregular shape
B order – melanomas usually have a notched or ragged border
C olours – melanomas will usually be a mix of two or more colours
D iameter – most melanomas are usually larger than 6mm in diameter
E nlargement or elevation – a mole that changes size over time is more likely to be a melanoma
A mole that changes size, shape or colour may be a melanoma.
But other signs to look out for include moles that are:
Swollen and sore
Bleeding
Itchy
Crusty
How deadly is it?
Melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer.
The outlook of a person's disease depends on the stage of the cancer when it was diagnosed.
Survival is better for women than it is for men.
'We don't know exactly why this is. It may be because women are more likely to see a doctor about their melanoma at an earlier stage,' says Cancer Research UK.
The charity says that generally, statistics show that in England, more than 85 out of every 100 people (more than 85 per cent) will survive their melanoma for 10 years or more after they are diagnosed.
Around 100 per cent in England diagnosed with melanoma at stage 1 - when the cancer cells are only in the top layer of skin - will survive for five years or more after diagnosis.This drops to 80 per cent for stage 2.
Some 70 per cent live for a further five years when they are diagnosed in stage 3, which is when the cancer has started to spread to nearby lymph nodes.
At stage 4, when the melanoma has spread elsewhere in the body, almost 30 per cent survive their cancer for 5 years or more.
Cancer Research says the stage 4 data does not account for age differences. Age can affect outlook and younger people have a better prognosis than older people.
Age can affect outlook and younger people have a better prognosis than older people.
What is melanoma?
Melanocytes are cells in the skin that give us the colour of our skin because they produce a pigment, known as melanin.
When you sit in the sun, melanocytes produce more pigment (a sun tan), which spreads to other skin cells to protect them from the sun's rays.
But melanocytes are also where cancer starts.
Too much UV causes sunburn, and this is a sign of damage to the skin's DNA.
The UV triggers changes in the melanocytes, which makes the genetic material become faulty and cause abnormal cell growth.
People who burn easily are more at risk of skin cancer because their cells do not produce as much pigment to protect their skin.
Those with albinism are at the most risk because their skin produces no pigment at all.