POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC IMAGE.
In December last year I (Anna) went to my annual skin check with my dermatologist. I have very fair skin and I do not tan (at all), I turn lobster red and I cannot count the times I have had nasty sunburns. A few times I have even had sunburns that would count as second degree burns. As a late teenager, I had several moles removed in Sweden and a few had precancerous changes. In the last few years I keep getting little spots of actinic keratosis especially on my face and hands and they always seem to want to biopsy one or another of my numerous moles. My appointment in December was no different. The dermatologist froze a few ak spots on my face and biopsied a mole on my left cheek. She said, she just didn’t like how it was just a little bit uneven and two different colors. Well, it turned out to be malignant melanoma. And like Rob said when I told him:”That’s not ideal”. Nope, not ideal. And I had not even noticed it myself. Oof!
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Fast forward a few months, and after a consult with a Moh’s clinic, I had a Slow Moh’s procedure last week removing the melanoma. The margins were clear, thankfully, but the defect on my face measured 3.5 by 2.4 cm. I had been told there would be a sizeable scar that would fade over time. In order to cover the defect (excised hole) they had to make additional cuts and move skin up from next to and below my ear. I have an L shaped wound across my cheekbone and down by my ear. Ouch.
In the past, when I made appointments for skin checks, dermatologists always made me feel silly for going, one even said:”your odds of getting skin cancer are very low”. Well, the truth is that 1 in 5 Americans will have had skin cancer by the age of 70. And if you’re fair skinned, you are 30 times more likely to be in that group. So, get your awkward skin checks, check your skin and ask your partner or friend to check those areas you cannot check yourself. Caught early, you may have an ugly scar, but caught late, it can be fatal. Judging by the “civil war- esque” bandages in the waiting room at the clinic I would say cheek, nose, and ears would be the first places to look.
The photo below is pretty graphic, Rob took it last week when I took my bandage off for the first time. It is less swollen and raised now, and tomorrow I will get my 20 something stitches out.
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There is a graduation speech called “Wear Sunscreen” that I have always loved, and I will include a link to it below. If there is something to be learned here, it is definitely that. WEAR SUNSCREEN!! And cover up and avoid the sun at peak hours.