Brianna Starr, 29, and her sister, Alicia, 26, never worried much about sunscreen. While growing up in Kansas, they focused on getting a gorgeous tan, like many of their friends and the influencers they followed on social media.
“It was a social thing,” Brianna said. “So many times we’d go over to my friend’s pool, and we would just lay there for two hours without any sunscreen. We used tanning beds before prom to get color. Having the appearance of being tanned was our priority.”
When Alicia was diagnosed with melanoma at age 19, however, that view changed.
“When Alicia found out she started googling and thought she would be dead in five years,” Brianna said. “Luckily, the doctors did a wide, local excision and got it all out.
“I started seeing a dermatologist every six months and actually flagged two separate moles, one on my neck and one on my shoulder, that were worrisome and could have developed into melanoma,” Brianna added.