The photo above shows me and my dear friend Lori in the year 1985. I was 21 years old and was sporting a tan that I thought looked oh-so-cool with my white t-shirt and faux puka shell necklace. In my late teens and early twenties, I didn’t feel attractive in the summer months unless I had a tan.
This next photo was taken in 2018. It reflects my attitude toward the sun in more recent years. Sunscreen, floppy hat, a sunscreen shirt.
Whoa – this photo looks a bit large when uploaded here. I’ve tried to make it smaller so it doesn’t frighten anyone, but I don’t want to crop it too much or else you won’t see the scale we’re working with. So, here’s the story. I have a full body check by my dermatologist every year – it’s not as traumatic it sounds, I promise! I highly recommend it. Anyway, I got a clean bill of health from my derm doctor last August, but in February I noticed a small pink spot on my face that didn’t go away. It did not look horrible. It wasn’t black and blotchy. It was just something that hadn’t been there before and didn’t seem to want to disappear. I booked an appointment with my derm to check it out. She took a look and said it might be something called basal cell carcinoma and it might not. Her conservative view was that a biopsy would probably be a good idea. The photo above is of the spot after the biopsy – I don’t have a before photo. The biopsy pathology showed that the spot was indeed basal cell carcinoma, which is a skin cancer that is not life threatening but left to its own devices will spread and spread and eventually make you look like a gargoyle (I don’t recommend looking at Google images – trust me). There is one cause of basal cell carcinoma – exposure to the sun.
This is me last Wednesday, waiting for my dermatologist to show up to perform my MOHS surgery. MOHS surgery is a multi-step procedure in which the dermatologist/surgeon removes very thin layers of tissue from the known site of the cancer. Each time a layer is removed, it is examined under a microscope to see if there are any cancer cells present. Layers are removed and examined until no cancer cells are present. If you are lucky, it only takes one layer to remove all the cancer cells. I was lucky.
After I was given the all clear by the dermatologist, I was sent across the street to the plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon removed the dressing that had been placed on my face and said, “Oh, this is going to be easy peasy.” “Yay,” I thought.
I was sent home with a sheet of instructions. I was to keep the dressing on until the next morning, when I was to apply some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid, or let it be open to the air. So, it wasn’t until the next morning that I saw this:
They don’t mess around. That little pink spot is now a one inch incision, healing nicely. So, less gargoyle and more pirate queen.
The moral of my story is this: respect the power of the sun. If you don’t have a dermatologist, get one. Schedule yourself for yearly full-body checks, and if you notice something new anywhere on your skin that either looks not quite normal, or grows or changes in any way over time, do not hesitate to get it looked at.
My name is Michelle and I approve this message.
xoxo