Tan At Risk

[sisabet]

So this post is not fannish or even funny or even funny in a fannish kind of way.

A friend of mine underwent surgery today to remove a melanoma from her neck. She is twenty-seven years old and has not tanned or spent any significant time unprotected in the sun since she was a teenager. She was just lucky that her doctor saw the mole (it looked like a large freckle) at a check-up last week and referred her immediately to a dermatologist who biopsied it and the results came back Friday. Well as lucky as one can feel when they are 27 and have cancer.

So - they will remove that area of her skin - and about three centimeters from the diameter of the lesion. There will be a scar and it will be in a visable place but she probably won't need radiation or additional treatment beyond complete body checks and additional monitoring of any suspicious places, because they caught it early. When I say early - I am talking in weeks here. A matter of weeks made the difference.

Now, I am posting this here because if you are like me - chances are you suffered some significant sunburns in your youth, but you are extra careful now. Wonderful - but you need to make certain you are having regular skin checks - you are at risk. Maybe you wear sunscreen now and use fake tanning products, but you used to go to the tanning bed when you were in high school because we all do stupid things when we are teenagers. I hear ya and I was ya - and fine - you are at risk.

I really didn't give cancer or aging or any of this any thought at all when I was sixteen. I did some really terrible things to my skin as a result. A lot of us who are over thirty never wore sunscreen (or limited amounts) when we were kids and we burned. This is not good. Hell, some of us would lay out slathered in baby oil with reflectors and this was to achieve "healthy tans" and it wasn't healthy and we need to be vigilant now.

Just a reminder and thus ends my preaching for today.

Comments

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

Good luck to your friend -- and to you.

A friend of mine had skin cancer at about the same age, or a little younger -- and she was in Japan at the time, where they're not very used to fair-skinned redheads, and they wanted to take her leg off below the hip. She flew home to the States for treatment, and she has a nice scar on her thigh, but, you know -- she has a thigh. And it has never come back, going on fifteen years by now.

[writteninstars.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder.

I'm glad your friend's was caught early and she's okay.

[flowery-twat.livejournal.com]

It's funny the things that seem 'lucky' when it comes to cancer. For me it's that my dad had a melanoma when he was 30. It was a fairly big deal since we were thousands of miles away from the nearest hospital and this was the mid 80's and there really wasn't that much information and it was a very, very stressful time. But he ended up being fine and has, amazingly, never had another melanoma, although statistically, he probably ought to have had dozens. The 'lucky' part comes in because it was a sufficiently traumatic event for my 7 year old self that I've been getting regular skin screenings since I was about 23, and have submitted to having 4 moles (all, so far benign - but let's not talk about unattractive scars in visible places, kay?) removed preventatively.

I anticipate one day one of the moles is going to be malignant, cause red hair + freckles + family history + lots of burns as a kid = high risk. But the fact that I'm doing everything I can to catch it early makes the whole thing so much less stressful.

Thanks for the psa - hope it catches the attention of people who aren't already getting regular screenings.

[piper47.livejournal.com]

I *fear* the sun.

No seriously... fear. Which is why I hate living in Arizona. I spend most of the summer months, indoors, bitter at the world because we spend a good 6 months never seeing clouds. I have a celebration in September when the first clouds return.

But even if I do go outside, I end up coated in 30 spf. I'm *very* fair skinned. I don't take risks.

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

:cough: Sorry. I know I get preachy. I've lived in AZ all my life though...my mom did the whole "baste yourself in baby oil and go tanning," and had to go get two or three moles checked out when I was 10/11 - none of them were cancerous, but still. It's scary. I used to burn a lot when I was little and even though now I spend about as much time in the sun as a vampire, I'll probably still be at risk for skin cancer.

I adore this state, but one of the biggest downsides is we are always in the sun. But then, who isn't - sunburns are worse in overcast weather, and all that.

Linzee, doesn't have an AZ icon. How sad is that?

[piper47.livejournal.com]

Yes... you should see me when I tan. I'm outside for all of 5 minutes, before I go running back in the house to watch TV.

::hates the heat::

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting that. My dad died of melanoma. Too few people know that it's a truly deadly form of cancer if not caught early. I'm glad your friend did.

[luna-k.livejournal.com]

My grandmother developed skin cancer on her face, arms and legs as a direct result of "tanning" with baby oil as a teenager. Two of her best friends, who also tanned with her, developed skin cancer as well.

It ended up not being fatal, but the treatments and laser removal process were incredibly painful for her. Not to mention, expensive & time consuming.

I don't go out of the house without at least my SPF15 daily moisturizer, lemme tell you.

[missmurchison.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was also diagnosed with melanoma at a young age, and although she has to be very careful, she is fine now, a half-dozen years later.

Thanks for posting the warning, and my best wishes for your friend.