Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Dear 16 year old me
The only way this can be more real for me, is if I have someone tell me I have Malignant Melanoma. My dad has had it for 25 years and has basically had his nose rebuilt. You're at significantly higher risk if you have more than 50 moles. HA! I have that many on ONE arm! Combine that with family history, and the fact people didn't use sunscreen when I was a kid (and oh how I remember those blistering burns!) and I'm right up there. So I take the job of checking my skin seriously.
How about you? Do you check your skin? When you think about the 16 year old you, and your sun exposure at that time, what do you want to tell yourself? I see teens now that are obviously spending a lot of time in the tanning booth. How very scary that is! If you're a teen now, take it seriously. Stop, check, and make sure your doctor is aware of any changes in your skin.
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2 comments:
I so regret all the sunbathing I did when I was young. Baby oil - what was I thinking??? I am fair skinned and have lots of moles/freckles now. I had a scare with melanoma 5 years ago (it was pre-melanoma and not in the deep skin tissues). I have a nice big scar on my back now (thankfully it's not worse than that). Until then, I truly had no idea that skin cancer (melanoma) could be so deadly. And besides that, at 33 I can see a lot of skin damage (age spots). I hope that someone young who sees this post will re-think tanning!!
I did some tanning as a teenager, but nothing habitual. I had basal cell skin cancer removed this year. I'm 36, but it showed up when I was 34. I went to the dr and he said it wasn't cancerous, two years later he was wrong.
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