Influencer Emma Hoffstrom sent to hospital from tanning bed

A woman’s experience with a tanning machine left her feeling red in the face.

Emma Hoffstrom, a fitness influencer from Sweden, is now healing from severe burns and scars after spending 18 minutes in a “broken” tanning machine at a salon.

Hoffstrom posted a now-viral video to her TikTok last month that shows before and after photos and details her horrific ordeal. 

The first image in the video shows her smiling in a tanning booth followed by snapshots of her with severely red skin and blisters. In one photo, she lays in a hospital bed with gauze on her face. 

”The tanning bed was actually broken. It’s supposed to have a limit of how much UV light you get – and on this one, it had no limit,” Hoffstrom says in a follow-up video.

Hoffstrom did not name the salon and said she chose not to sue them. Some commenters on Hoffstrom’s video offered their support but others warned her about the dangers of tanning beds and argued the salon wasn’t to blame.

“Yep I used a tanning bed for 5 minutes and it completely altered my skin for the rest of my life,” wrote user 7782578623618.

“I used one years ago for a few minutes with my eyes open. I burnt the cornea in my eyes. I was blind for days. They things are dangerous ❤️,” said Lynn. 

“18 mins is about 12 mins too much!! Why didn’t you time yourself!?,” exclaimed Lydia. 

Tanning beds and sun exposure speed up the process of aging and they could also cause cancer. 

“There is no such thing as a safe tan from a tanning booth. If you want a tan, consider using sunless tanning products,” writes the Mayo Clinic on their website.

There are over 1 million new skin cancer cases every year, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Cooking in a tanning booth isn’t the only thing that could increase skin cancer risk. A surprising study found that eating fish twice a week makes people 22 percent more likely to develop malignant melanoma.