With a rebel yell, he cried mohs, mohs mohs!
This was how it started!
This was yesterday!
The first picture is from February of 2015. A few days before this, I had noticed that I was looking tired and pale. While at a softball game in San Diego, I found a spot in the Sun and sat there for a couple of hours, without using any sunscreen. The result was a lovely shade of red. Sunburn. I was no longer looking tired and pale.
The second picture was from yesterday. A couple of months ago, I found a small bump on my nose. It didn't look dangerous, nor did it bother me so I waited for my bi-annual visit to my dermatologist to do anything about it. It turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma....skin cancer. It took about six hours to remove it all. The hole in my nose was what it looked like before a plastic surgeon stitched me up. More good news is I should have two black eyes in the next day or two. I'll be scaring little children for the next week. Too bad it's not Halloween.
Are the two photos related? Who knows!! I can't count the times my face was sunburned when I was a kid. Back in those olden days, we didn't know much about sunscreen. Getting a tan made you look and feel healthy. No one had any idea that it could be deadly.
The photo of the sunburn is the last time my face has been in that condition. A few weeks afterward, I was diagnosed with Melanoma. I've made it a point to keep out of the sun since then. Yesterday, was also the second time I've had Mohs surgery for a supposed minor skin cancer. I say minor because while in the recovery area I saw people with much worse cases than mine. One woman was wearing a patch over one eye, while a man had most of his face bandaged. It probably didn't seem so minor to them.
So here's some advice from someone who has now survived three surgeries for forms of skin cancer. Do whatever you can to avoid having the painful minor surgery.
Wear sunscreen! Wear sun-protective clothing! Keep out of tanning booths. Remember that even getting a suntan will change your skin's molecular makeup. That increases your chances of getting skin cancer.
And if you forget all of the above, remember the two photos. Avoid looking like either of them!
Related Post: They call it Melanoma Monday
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