I have a PSA.

Public Service Announcement.

Use the damn Sunscreen!

I'm fair skinned with light colored eyes, worse case scenario for shade babies.  As a kid I used to burn and blister, not tan.

I get cold sores/fever blisters a lot; when I went to get my prescription renewed for Valtrex they pointed me to a Dermatologist.  I went today.  "Yeah, we can fix that, but that dry patch on your forehead, that's Actinic Keratoses, a precurser to skin cancer".

Oh.

They're going to burn it off with liquid nitrogen, also the one inside my lower lip.  It's all sun related.  Since I fly inside a plastic greenhouse, I wear a GRM bucket hat, an SPF 100 long sleeve Tee and sunblock.  Now.  Should have started this years and years ago.

Dan

Indeed. Unless you want some bitchin scars. Also: A trip to the dermatologist isn’t a bad idea. Saved my life.

My dad's stage 4 melanoma is in remission at the moment. My next dermatologist appointment was scheduled today! My last visit took some of my skin, the biopsy said it was precancerous.

Get checked!

I had two squamous cell carcinomas removed from my face this summer. This is the swelling from one of the two surgeries after a week. The first few days I could hardly see; it was much worse than this.

They were tiny, smooth, non-pigmented, nearly flat masses. The larger of the two was smaller than a match head. The dermatologist hadn't even noted them a couple of months earlier, but I monitor my skin closely. Every little bump, mass, patch of persistently scaly skin, pigment, non-healing ulcer, etc. should be checked out.

Prognosis is good with clean margins. 

Follow the advice given at the top.

I wholly support this PSA, I have had 2 basal cell carcinoma(benign) and 1 precancerous spot removed in the last few years. I have not really spent any significant time outside since I was in college about twenty years ago. I have begun to keep track of any spots on my skin. It is better to catch them early.

I see a dermatologist annually.  Best to let the pros handle it.

I have very pale green/gray eyes.. but the native blood in me shows in my skin. I rarely burn and any exposure to the sun darkens me up considerably. I do need to get checked though, it's been a while

Dr. Hess said:

I see a dermatologist annually.  Best to let the pros handle it.

  When I was the lead tech in the metallography lab, we had a scanning electron microscope that required liquid nitrogen every morning.

Some, obviously smarter than me Engineer, came in every day and dabbed a skin tag or a wart on his arm with LN.  Didn't take long to get infected  and we convinced him it had to be amputated.

He saw the professionals.

914Driver said:

Dr. Hess said:

I see a dermatologist annually.  Best to let the pros handle it.

  When I was the lead tech in the metallography lab, we had a scanning electron microscope that required liquid nitrogen every morning.

Some, obviously smarter than me Engineer, came in every day and dabbed a skin tag or a wart on his arm with LN.  Didn't take long to get infected  and we convinced him it had to be amputated.

He saw the professionals.

i regert that i have but one thumbs-up to give

*PSA addendum: Don’t share drinks with 914driver. (Sorry, bruh, but you kinda lobbed that one over the plate.)

Wear Sunscreen

poopshovel again said:

*PSA addendum: Don’t share drinks with 914driver.

Hmm, I've never been to a dermatologist. At 50 maybe I should. 

My wife had a melanoma on her leg and on her shoulder. I told her she needed to get the one on the leg taken care of, which she did not do until I told her I would not marry her until after it was removed.  She was 25 at the time.  She said her dermatologist said it was nothing to worry about, I insisted.  Went to the guy, who said it was nothing to worry about, she tells him it is my fiancee.  Went to the plastic surgeon, who thought the dermatologist was getting picky.  She tells him it was my idea, and he says, I thought you were a foot doctor, what do you know about dermatology?  I know everyone has skin on their feet.  That is true, he says.  He takes it off, we get married and the following Monday get a call that she needs to go talk to the doctor about the biopsy results.  I happen to know they will tell you good news over the phone, so I ask what grade the melanoma on her leg was.  She is not really supposed to say, but that is the sort of question you ask when you already spoke to the doctor.  Grade 1, lower number is better, like lap times, only more important.  Dermatologist is a little rattled, looking at me like a sprouted wings or something when we go in, "What made you think it was melanoma?"  Everything, color, size, asymmetry, perilesional erythema,  just like in the textbook.  "Does she have any other moles you don't like?"  Yes, the one on her shoulder.  He makes up a list of about half dozen moles he wants gone, back to the plastic surgeon.  His first comment was that I made the Professor of Dermatology look like a real jerk.  He took wider margins of the original spot, plus all the others.  Turns out the one on the shoulder was melanoma too.

I was the only one that looked at the one on her leg and said it was trouble. After that, the dermatologist listened very closely to what I said.

You want to watch out, especially if you have white child syndrome(fair skin, blue or green eyes and blonde or red hair) Even more importantly, put sunscreen on your kids.  The damage that manifests as skin cancer later in life is generally believed to be related to damage done as a child.

Oh yeah, put the highest number sunscreen you can find on your surgical incisions for the first year after you get cut.

I was a blonde haired, blue eyed child that freckled more than burned or tanned, now I am brown haired adult who still freckles just not as much. My dermatologist said most of my skin damage was done before I turned 21. All of the spots I have had removed were on the left side of my body. They tell me now to wear at least a 75 spf sunscreen to hopefully avoid any new skin damage. It does not help that I am on 4 meds that tell me to avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight.

I was born a poor black child....

I'm with Chesterfield, it happens when you're young and invincible, but you pay when you're old and defenseless.

In the service, I fell asleep on Virginia Beach once.  Beet red, blistered, swollen ankles and I couldn't stand to be near any heat.  Well, that sucks when you're a cook on a submarine.  They were going to write me up for Dereliction of Duty and Destruction of Government Property.

"I understand the Dereliction idea, but what's this crap about Gov't Property?"

You.

A long time ago I was told I never had to worry about skin  cancer because of the olive complexion I inherited from my Sicilian mother.  (darn , forgot about the mix of my dad's English/German fairer skin genes)

That was not true, anyone with sun damage to the skin can get skin cancers.     I always wear caps outside but that little part of your face the cap doesn't shade always got a little burnt. 

  So 60 years of this and presto, basal cell carcinoma.     Doc cut it out and did liquid nitrogen on a lot of other suspect spots.   That hurts more than the cutting part.

So now its wide brim hats and sun screen.     So, young guys, now is the time to make the change and protect your skin from the sun.

..

I took a melanoma off the bottom of a black man's foot one time.  I don't like the cryotherapy approach, destroys your specimen.  If it worries me enough to remove, it worries me enough that I want to have the pathologist tell me what they think it is.

poopshovel again said:

I was born a poor black child....

And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game and the remote control, and that's all I need.

I worked outside on a farm for 7 years as a teenager and I never wore sunscreen. I've also never been to a dermatologist as an adult. Guess I better, after reading this thread.

Don't think there was sunsceen when I was groing up.   Got sunburns.  As I grew older I developed a few odd lookin "moles".   Doctor said I should have them removed.  Not all at once.   Never got a phone call.

I don't think there was sun screen when I grew up either.  Best you could get was some kind of oil stuff.  Probably SPF 2.  Certainly not the SPF 100 available today.

Melanomas be bad.  They can metastasize and then the primary go away before you find them.  You just find the metastasis.  It is theorized that the primary could even be in the GI tract sometimes.  My uncle is dying of it.   Refuses to admit it, but that's the fact. 

In school, they taught:  If there's a question, take it off and send it out for path.  Cancerous and non-cancerous can look deceivingly similar.  Squamous is fairly distinct.  Red, angry looking.  Saw one once on a man's arm about 4" x 2" x 1".  Keloids ran in the family and that's what the family told him he had.  Classic squamous, just textbook example large.

Just putting this out there but anyone suffering from canker sores or similar issues may want to consider taking L-lysine and calcium lactate. Possibly magnesium since it helps direct calcium to go to the right places. 

Lysine is an amino acid that can suppress the viruses that lead to outbreaks. Calcium in the correct tissues does a similar thing but in a different way. The main issue being that today's foods are not as nutritious as they were 50 to 100 years ago since the way land has been farmed it stripped the soil of its minerals so they are no longer available in plants and ergo animals that used to have minerals in their flesh. So a little supplementation may be in order. 

That being said, always listen to your doctor and I thank you, doctors, for all your effort and underappreciated work that you give all of us to keep us on the top side of the dirt. 

Friend of a friend passed away suddenly from skin cancer. Went from "hmm, this bump looks funny" to dead in about three months. Freaked all of us out.

I'm on the list for a referral to a skin doc soon, as I spent two years working construction in the sun without any sun protection. I'm a full blown Dad-geek at the beach or pool now. Bucket hat, dry fit shirt, and SPF-1000 on what isn't covered.

gunner said:

Just putting this out there but anyone suffering from canker sores or similar issues may want to consider taking L-lysine and calcium lactate. Possibly magnesium since it helps direct calcium to go to the right places. 

 

L-Lysine doesn't touch them for me, I have a script for Valtrex.  Pop two and then one every 12 hours and they go away in a day or two vs 10 without.