A YOUNG mother diagnosed with deadly skin cancer after her parents bought her a sunbed at the age of 16 has warned others to use spray tans instead.

Lisa Guthrie used a sunbed for an hour every day as a teenager and, after giving birth to her two children, would visit a tanning salon up to four times a week.

The 33-year-old, from Consett, County Durham, has since been diagnosed with malignant melanoma and although she is now in remission, she has been warned she is at high risk of the cancer returning.

"I was obsessed with getting a tan when I was younger," she said. "I have always been obsessed with looking good.

"All my neighbours knew I had a sunbed because my room would glow blue.

"You would go on it for 20 minutes. I would set it for an hour and fall asleep, I was that bad."

In May, the beauty blogger, had two moles removed which were sent away for biopsy and she was eventually told she had skin cancer.

Mrs Guthrie, who is mother to Sonny, 11, and Harley, eight, has now been told she is in remission.

She said: "It's changed me and it's made me appreciate life a lot more. It has made us stronger as a family.

"It makes me want to spend as much time with them as I can and enjoy life as much as I can."

Mrs Guthrie, a dental practice manager, is now using her beauty blog to raise awareness of skin cancer among young girls and is warning them not to use the sunbeds and get spray tans instead.

She said: "It is not what you do now it is what you did when you were younger. It may take a few years to catch up with you but it will catch up with you in the end.

"There are some great spray tans out there these days. A tan is not everything."