Woman’s skin cancer selfie led to increase in prevention searches

A woman's viral skin cancer damage selfie led to a 162 percent increase in online searches about preventing the condition.

Tawny Willoughby shared the photo of her skin cancer treatment - and the damage the condition did to the skin on her face - on Facebook in 2015. The Kentucky woman wrote that the images should encourage people not to use sunbeds. She said:

"If anyone needs a little motivation to not lay in the tanning bed and sun here ya go! "This is what skin cancer treatment can look like. Wear sunscreen and get a spray tan. Learn from other people's mistakes."

It wasn't long before the image went viral, amassing over 100,000 shares on the social media site. And now, new research has shown that Tawny's post led to a 162 percent increase in people searching skin cancer prevention. The study, published in medical journal Preventative Medicine this week, detailed that after Tawny's selfie went viral, the words "skin" and "cancer" received a 162 percent boost on Google. Similarly, searches for "skin cancer" reached their peak during the time when the selfie was getting shared the most. Searches for "tan" and "tanning" also rose considerably. The study 's authors said:

“We conclude that an ordinary person's social media post caught the public's imagination and led to significant increases in public engagement with skin cancer prevention."

In her original post, Tawny said that she shared the image to encourage others not to use sunbeds, regardless of their tanning time. She wrote:

"I see a lot of comments regarding the frequency of my tanning. Please do not allow that to help you justify your tanning. "Most of the time I tanned 1-2 times per week. There were weeks I didn't tan at all. This intention of the post is to help people."