I just gave some poor sweet woman a lecture on another blog because she said it was too hot to wear stockings with skirts in summer .. because she hadn't gotten tanned legs yet.
Here is my take on this ... you may call it a rant if you wish ... but it comes from Experience so Listen to what I say !
We were all out in the sun when we were kids, Coppertone babies !
We (teenagers) would lie in the sun at the beach or pool and polish our bodies, our smooth tight skinned bodies with baby oil .. asking our girlfriends lying next to us on the beach towel or the deck chair ... Am I red yet ?
We would check for tan lines .. we would slather on the oil and nap in the sun and go out that night all pink and shiny and healthy feeling and looking.
A few years down the line ...
We look in the mirror and there is another wrinkle !
What are those brown spots on my leg ??
The dermatologist office just called, they say the biopsy came back positive.
Make an appointment for surgery.
When we were kids, our mothers would try to protect us .. when we were teens we did our best to avoid all protection .. when we are adults, we are trying to protect our children and keep from suffering terrible effects of our own sun damage.
A friend of mine died a few years ago .. young beautiful, melanoma.
My husband had a melanoma on his stomach .. a tiny black mole.
His doctor noticed it and sent him to the dermatologist .. within 2 weeks, he was in surgery having a little chunk of his abdomen removed.
Every year, twice a year .. he saw a dermatologist.
I , the blonde beach baby from California .. freckled and healthy looking .. was told I had a squamous cell cancer on my leg. That little dry patch that wouldn't go away.
A couple of years later, that little red mark on the other leg, basel cell cancer .. and on the Other Leg !! squamous cell.
I go to the dermatologist once a year now- down from twice a year and I always know something can just pop up .. and I can't blame anyone else .. I asked for it.
I really did look fabulous with a tan :)
This is what skin cancer looks like ..
http://i.cbc.ca/1.3074733.1431630937!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_620/skin-cancer-selfie.jpg
I'd rather be pale.
Another California beach baby here. I too am paying for my summers at the beach with carcinomas and age spots.
ReplyDeleteCancer here too. I was dark headed with light blue eyes and tons of freckles, yet still sought a tan. The young don't realize how your neck and hands and face will look much older. Add that to smoking and you'll be the oldest looking one out of the group. My husband had throat cancer from smoking which is a lot like tanning. Foolish.
ReplyDeleteVery sound advice. Growing up in the fifties in damp rainy England & not being able to afford trips to sunny Spain my skin didn't get much sun exposure as a teenager, unlike to-day when travel to hot sunny places is no longer a luxury for most. I realize now I was actually getting a lucky break.
ReplyDeleteBarb
Barb .. yes.. lucky.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Arizona and lived in San Diego and Hawaii then North Carolina .. I could have been doomed ! But luckily, being blonde and fair , mom hid me from sunburns. Who knew what a difference that would make. I have had several skin cancer surgeries, earned from my adult sun tanning days .. hopefully that is over .. I avoid getting color now- I am that white woman over there .. :)
7 squamous to date and you were there for the first one! Thank goodness I grew up in rainy cloudy MA or what would I be today other than one big scar. Don has a basal on the tip of his nose. Surgery coming up. I had a squamous in the exact same place this winter, but FL dermatologist had me treat it with Aldara. (Looks like what that girl is using in your photo. Same ugly reaction, but it's gone.). He says I gave it to him. :) You don't need this stress, and hopefully this is small and early. I too am a pale face nowadays, but too late! If you do move to FL you'll be in the land of dermatologists!
ReplyDeleteMy best Chica,
OO/Carol
Oh Carol, hello honey ! I am sorry you and your husband are both being treated for this .. I feel lucky that mine have been basal and one squamous ... my husband had a melanoma many years ago, a tiny spot on his chest. He never had anything else happen to his skin ..
ReplyDeleteMy hopes are pinned on getting a little house here .. stay up here where I won't feel like an albino in summer. My dermatologist in Fl was at the Mayo Clinic in Jax... H loved her, so did I.
The Argentine dermatologist and surgeons were pretty great too. :O)