Time to Be Serious About Skin Cancer
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86891)
United States
March 29, 2017 8:35pm CST
My dad went through a long day today. He had a good portion of his earlobe removed because of skin cancer. Thankfully what he has is squamous cell carcinoma, which is the "good" kind of skin cancer to have if you must have it (meaning it hasn't penetrated all the layers of the skin). He'll get his ear rebuilt and be back to looking like Darren Stephens in that episode of Bewitched where Endora made his ears grow every time he told a lie in no time!! 
But now to be serious.
Your skin is the largest organ of your body. It's also extremely vulnerable: exposed to pollutants, sun's rays, and all the other external factors.
Skin cancer, however, has the absolute easiest "prep" of ANY cancer screening: take your clothes off for the doctor. No goop to drink, no pills to take, no fasting for eight hours, no peeing into a cup. That's it: get nekkid (as we say in the south) and let the doctor eyeball your skin, especially your moles.
I'm at risk. While I don't have any of the CDC's "hereditary" risk factors (I'm pretty dark-skinned, no blue or green eyes, and I'm not a redhead or a blonde), I have a number of large brown moles. Additionally, when I was stationed in Hawaii I got a first-degree sunburn on my legs.
What does all of this mean? Twice a year I go to the dermatologist (my dermatologist has as warped a sense of humor as I do...maybe worse) and let him inspect my skin. He examines all of my moles, especially the darker colored ones and any ones that I've noticed appear to be changing (whether they really are or it's an optical illusion). He'll remove the ones he thinks are at highest risk for developing something and freeze others.
The good news is that, while all of his pathology reports have come back showing "superficial growth" in the very top layer of the moles he's removed, that means that he got them in their pre-cancer development stage.
So, my friends, enemies, and readers, please get checked for skin cancer at least annually. Wear sun screen (they make good sun screen that doesn't have an odor to it so you don't walk around smelling like you fell in a bucket of Hawaiian Tan 
). Take good care of yourself. We need you around like my dad: for a good long time.
Here's the related song (well, the title is related, the song has nothing to do with the title) for this discussion:
But now to be serious.
Your skin is the largest organ of your body. It's also extremely vulnerable: exposed to pollutants, sun's rays, and all the other external factors.
Skin cancer, however, has the absolute easiest "prep" of ANY cancer screening: take your clothes off for the doctor. No goop to drink, no pills to take, no fasting for eight hours, no peeing into a cup. That's it: get nekkid (as we say in the south) and let the doctor eyeball your skin, especially your moles.
I'm at risk. While I don't have any of the CDC's "hereditary" risk factors (I'm pretty dark-skinned, no blue or green eyes, and I'm not a redhead or a blonde), I have a number of large brown moles. Additionally, when I was stationed in Hawaii I got a first-degree sunburn on my legs.
What does all of this mean? Twice a year I go to the dermatologist (my dermatologist has as warped a sense of humor as I do...maybe worse) and let him inspect my skin. He examines all of my moles, especially the darker colored ones and any ones that I've noticed appear to be changing (whether they really are or it's an optical illusion). He'll remove the ones he thinks are at highest risk for developing something and freeze others.
The good news is that, while all of his pathology reports have come back showing "superficial growth" in the very top layer of the moles he's removed, that means that he got them in their pre-cancer development stage.
So, my friends, enemies, and readers, please get checked for skin cancer at least annually. Wear sun screen (they make good sun screen that doesn't have an odor to it so you don't walk around smelling like you fell in a bucket of Hawaiian Tan ). Take good care of yourself. We need you around like my dad: for a good long time.
Here's the related song (well, the title is related, the song has nothing to do with the title) for this discussion:
8 people like this
6 responses
@teamfreak16 (43668)
• Denver, Colorado
30 Mar 17
I try to use sunscreen each time I take my bike out. Key word being "try."
2 people like this
@nanette64 (20363)
• Fairfield, Texas
30 Mar 17
When I was 16 @FourWalls , I fell asleep in the sun while on the lake's bank. I burned so deeply that I didn't even blister. I had destroyed the melanin cells in the skin. Just sleeping in my bed felt like I was laying on sandpaper and I swelled up like a balloon. I worked in a restaurant at the time and standing over the fryers made me feel like I was on fire. It took over 20 years for the melanin cells to start again to produce in my skin.
2 people like this
@hereandthere (45628)
• Philippines
30 Mar 17
i also have more moles (flat and raised) and brown spots (cafe au lait) than my siblings.
1 person likes this
@andriaperry (118793)
• Anniston, Alabama
30 Mar 17
Tony has had some many removed, froze and has had major surgery 6 times to "get it all" one root went all the way through his arm and it was just a tiny hard white pot on his skin.
I had 3 froze off me and one was cancer.
My sister had melanoma twice and got it cut off.
Skin cancer eat off my dads face and took his right eye.
Skin cancer is nothing to let go.
2 people like this
