Use your sunscreen, or else suffer like me

[vito]

When I grew up there was no such thing as sunscreen. As a fair skinned redhead I would burn and peel several times every summer, spending pretty much every day out in the sun unprotected. When I hit 40 I had my first skin cancer. Since then (in the last 34 years) I have had several dozen more cancers. Mostly basal cell, some squamos cell, and two times melanoma. Last year I had to have a big basal cell cancer removed from the tip of my nose with some rather extensive plastic surgery to both remove it and to reconstruct my nose so that I don't scare little children and old ladies. Today I had yet another cancer removed from the side of my nose, again with major plastic surgery to try to keep me looking as normal as possible. This is no fun, I can assure you. The anesthesia alone for the surgical removal of the cancer was far more painful than you can possibly imagine unless you have had to go through something like this.

So be smart out there. Wear sunscreen daily, even if you are dark skinned or think you never burn. The sun's rays do their damage cumulatively. I have been told by dermatologists that my skin cancers are likely primarily due to damage done during my first 20 years of life, and that despite how careful I am now I will likely have many more cancers erupt. I personally wonder if my renal cancer that caused me to lose a kidney two years ago was somehow related to the numerous skin cancers that I have suffered.

I'm not about to start living indoors all the time; bicycling and motorcycling are my two favorite pastimes, but I sure wish I had been more careful when I was younger. Learn from my mistakes and take care of yourself, and more importantly, take care of your kids while they are young and you can control their exposure to the sun.

 

[Paul B]

I'm with you Vito. I had a cancer removed from my nose and one from my left elbow. You're right, that damned Lidocaine stings like hell.
Funny thing about the one on the schnozz. About 9 years ago there was this thing on my nose and I had it removed with a biopsy. The said it was non-cancerous. Fast foeward to last year and it was still there; scab up, fall off and bleed a bit then scab up again only to do it all again. I thought something screwy here and got a a note from my doc to see a specialist. Sure as hell, basal cell on the nose and another on the elbow. The nose went easy but they really had to dig deep on the elbow. I had my first annual full body check last month and so far all is well.
Paul B.

 

[dougader]

My older brother is the one that always burned. He burns if he looks outside and sees the sun. He uses zinc oxide to coat his face and ears if he's going to be working outside.

I never burned. I just got brown. But I'm the one who got malignant melanoma... on the back of my thigh almost up to my butt... a place that has never seen a ray of sunshine. It first appeared as a ragged, uneven colored, darkish brown mole my wife happened to see. She literally saved my life. I would have never seen that mole.

My dermatologist said it's a common myth that you only get skin cancer on the exposed parts. Melanoma can show up anywhere, no matter where the skin was actually damaged by the sun's harmful rays. My melanoma was removed in 2009 and there's been semi-annual and now annual checkups to check me out and so far I'm clear.

The skin Doc also said to wear SPF 50 (minimum), sit in the shade and wear a wide brimmed hat, even on cloudy days.

Good thing I love hats! Straw for summer, felt for spring, fall and winter!

At a favorite hat shop, with hatter Mike Miller of NW Hat Co. in Eugene, Oregon:

At Penman Hat Co in Hillsboro, Oregon, with my "Indy" style fedora:

 

[Kanook]

I remember putting on oil to get as dark as I could, now I wear long sleaves and hats if I'm in the yard longer than 30 min.

https://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI

 

[GRAMPS 51]

Hi I have been there I always thought I would get it on my left arm my arm would burn bad after 35 years driving a truck down the road in a T shirt arm stuck out the window most of the time I had a purple looking mole that would grow and itch in the summer and get smaller in winter well I came in from hunting one day I took a shower and looked in the mirror and thought I had a small leaf stuck on my back well it turns out I had a small raggedy looking mole had grown from 1/4 inch to the size of a nickel in about 6 weeks it turned out to be a melanoma in the next 8 months they took off the entire back of my right ear and froze of at least 20 other spots on my hands and face the mole on the left arm never turned into anything go figure but I told the surgeon to get rid of it anyway they say if you have a blistering sunburn before age 10 it is likely you will develop skin cancer in the future

Gramps

 

[bogus bill]

Been there, done that.

 

[welldoya]

The only sun lotion I can remember is the PF4 Coppertone and we never used it.
I used to surf, sail, fish and work construction in the summer and never wore any sunscreen.
I've had about 10 or 12 basil cells cut off, a couple around my ears using the MOHs method. (cut a little, check it, cut a little more...)
I think people these days are a lot smarter than we were. Or at least a lot better informed.
I've read that you receive 80% or your total life's sun exposure by age 18 so take care of your kids and grandkids.

 

[ditto1958]

I had to have about half of one of my earlobes hacked off a couple of years ago, due to a squamous cell carcinoma. Since then, I live in fear as each successive skin check appointment approaches. So far, so good, have only had to have a few spots frozen off, but they tell me the damage has already been done.

I have a medium complexion. I don't burn easily, but if I do, it soon turns to a tan. My father was blond and pale, while my mother is dark complected, tans easily and never burns. I got a lot of sun each summer, and on warm weather winter vacations over the years. No really bad burns, but...

Well, no more, since the ear surgery. Wear a big boonie hat, and SPF 50 sunscreen whenever I go outside.

 

[toysoldier]

You should see some of the old Swedish-ancestry farmers out here in Kansas. Some of them look like they were at Hiroshima. My father (of purely European ancestry) got darker than the natives in the Philippines when he was stationed there. My brother and I inherited that complexion. As little kids, Mom would put us in cotton shorts and out the door to play. A neighbor came by to tell her that the neighborhood had been integrated; she had seen two little colored boys running around. :lol:

Now, I watch things closely, and do most of my outdoor chores early and late.

 

[dougader]

You should see some of the old Swedish-ancestry farmers out here in Kansas. Some of them look like they were at Hiroshima. My father (of purely European ancestry) got darker than the natives in the Philippines when he was stationed there. My brother and I inherited that complexion. As little kids, Mom would put us in cotton shorts and out the door to play. A neighbor came by to tell her that the neighborhood had been integrated; she had seen two little colored boys running around. :lol:

Now, I watch things closely, and do most of my outdoor chores early and late.

I was on Niue Island for a couple years and got as dark as some of the fairer skinned polynesians there. No matter, I got the melanoma. No one else in my family has had any problems. They say the skin is your largest organ; makes sense to protect it.

 

[nvbirdman]

I'm glad my dermatologist is a good looking lady because I have to see her every three months for the next three years. And if something new shows up, we start the cycle all over again.

 

[SamV]

I am hoping the younger crowd gets the message. Like most here, I can recall some wicked burns as a young person. I am fortunate so far that I have had only a few small suspicious things removed. But I know many that have had a fair amount of surgery for skin cancers. And sadly, I have lost a couple of friends to it. My annual skin exam is coming up next month.

 

[WAYNO]

This thread is good information. Now, if we could only make the youngsters listen...


I truly have lost count of all the lesions I've had removed. And no matter how extensive the surgery, it comes back, plus more in other places. I'm told it will be this way the rest of my life.

As a kid, I lived in the sun. I'm fair skinned, but I've always tanned very easily, and seldom burned. Ironically, although my arms and face were the most exposed to the sun, it's on top of my head that I've had all the problems.

We cannot escape the sun, nor do we want to, but we can be smart about our exposure.

I see the young babes heading into the tanning parlors, and I want to stop them and show them the gruesome photos I have, which will be the same gruesome photos they will have of themselves, later in their life, thanks to their sun and suntan parlor worshiping.

When I was gainfully employed, and had decent insurance, the skin doctor insisted I visit him every six months. And every six months, and more biopsies each time, he either froze, burned, scraped, or cut out more cancer. Now that I have medicare, the skin doctor no longer has an interest in me, and I have to let him know when I have more lesions.

WAYNO.

 

[Rumrunner]

Being a fair skinned red head (when I had hair) I have had my share of sunburns. Riding motorcycles for years didn't help. When I was young I was life guard and used zinc oxide. Had it on my toes and my nose, looked like a geek for sure. I have had two chunks cut off requiring 8 stitches each, one from my shoulder and one from my chest, and have had spots frozen off my face 3 times now. So far no melonoma.

 

[vito]

What prompted me to start this thread was my latest episode. Two days ago I had a cancer removed from the side of my nose. The surgeon had to take a piece about as big as a dime. Yesterday the plastic surgeon did a reconstruction by making a flap from healthy skin on my nose to cover where the cancer was. My nose is swollen up to about twice its size, I have a serious black eye on the side where the surgery was, and I am on some major pain pills. I feel like I was hit in the face with a baseball bat. Even though the weather is beautiful right now, I am certainly not feeling up to going for a ride on my motorcycle or going to the range. Sitting here in front of the computer or watching TV is about all I feel up to. This really sucks. Take care of your kids and grandkids so stories like mine become a thing of the past.

 

[bogus bill]

My first procedure on my nose was in 1985. I would be okay usually close to a year. It would come back, sometimes heal for awhile than reappear. Over the next 20 plus years I had about 12 to 15 more procedures done. Always the doctors would tell me they thought they got it this time and not to worry, it isn't life threatening. Then in about 2006 they told me I had to get my nose removed or die. I guess the cancer had spread to near a hole in my skull and they said when it got there it would go in to the brain. Hence the picture that seemed to freak everyone out where there wasn't a comment.. I have better ones?? Basically they did whats called "Moe surgery". I don't quite understand what it really en tales either. The entire nose came off, they literally scalped me on top of the head, twist the skin around, leave a piece of skin and a blood vessel to feed the new area. They build up a sort of new framework using gristle they get from your rib cage and some from behind my ears. It involved three major surgery's and I pretty much hid out for something like four or six months. It was worse on my wife than me as she had to change the bandages etc several times a day on top of my head where I was literally scalped. To make matters worse I almost bled to death twice. I take blood thinner due to a prior pulmonary embolism. Because of that for every surgery I had to get off the blood thinner and take lovenox shots in the stomach twice a day for ten days prior to surgery's. I fell on my face on cement outside in the middle of recovering and it again shattered my nose and pushed it back against my face a inch or so. The surgeon didn't want to redo it so I don't look too good. That was one of the times I almost bled to death. Not fun. Here is a picture after I healed. There are a few scars and I basically have just one nostril. Better take care of yourselves. I didn't and still don't as much as I should. I owe my life to the Huntsman Cancer hospital in Salt Lake and a Dr. Hunt.

 

[WAYNO]

My first procedure on my nose was in 1985. I would be okay usually close to a year. It would come back, sometimes heal for awhile than reappear. Over the next 20 plus years I had about 12 to 15 more procedures done. Always the doctors would tell me they thought they got it this time and not to worry, it isn't life threatening. Then in about 2006 they told me I had to get my nose removed or die. I guess the cancer had spread to near a hole in my skull and they said when it got there it would go in to the brain. Hence the picture that seemed to freak everyone out where there wasn't a comment.. I have better ones?? Basically they did whats called "Moe surgery". I don't quite understand what it really en tales either.

Looks good to me. And you can still get chicks. 8)

A couple of your comments that I can comment further...I have also been told too many times, my Basal Cell skin cancer is a nuisance but not life threatening. That causes people to postpone treatment, and eventually it can become life threatening, as you have said. I've got quite a divot in my head from three surgeries on the same spot. Went into the bone quite a ways. The Doc told me of a colleague doing a procedure similar to mine, where he actually exposed the brain right in the Doctors office. That doesn't sound like "just a nuisance".

Mohs surgery? I've had that done once also. It is also the only surgery I've had where the cancer has never come back. The procedure...Cut out where they think the perimeters are of the cancer, and before they stitch you up they biopsy the entire lesion, making sure there are no cancer cells on the edges. If they find none, they sew ya up and/or start the plastic surgery if necessary. If they find bad cells on the edges, then they cut some more, and test it again. They keep doing this til the edges are 100% clean of cancer cells.

Lastly, when the Doc's downplay the significance of Basal Cell Carcinoma, they say that it seldom metastasizes. (spreads to other organs). So, the folks that had had it spread to other parts of their body should feel better because the odds were so low of it spreading? All the more reason to get it treated as soon as possible.

WAYNO.

 

[bogus bill]

Outside of my last go around, my very worst surgery was my very first one in 1985. The ones in between weren't bad. I went in thinking this would be a 10 minute job. The doctor had me lay on a table and cut me the entire length of my nose. He made a comment that he should wait for lab results but said, naw, I am sure I got it all. He stitched me up and no sooner got done and the phone rang. He didn't get it all! So back on the table again while he cut the stitch`s and redone my nose. By this time I was almost having a nervous breakdown. To make matters worse it happened the day after my ex had ran off with another married man just a day or two before Christmas. I don't recall that doctor even giving me a pain shot or pill.
When I was a boy in Wisconsin I worked summer vacations on Truck farms in the fields all day without using lotion or wearing hats. Thats where it had to have started. Gee whiz. All for about 35 to 50 cents a hour!