Yesterday was melanoma Monday and I forgot to post this then. PSA for all of you stubborn folks out there - go see a dermatologist for a skin check! Yes, you!
A yearly skin check in 2020 (actually delayed 3 months because work) identified a stage 1a melanoma on my chest. Had I not gone in, things would have gotten really bad for me. Melanoma is a killer folks, but it's easy to head off.
Even if you don't wear your sunscreen, make your kids wear it!
I'm probably too late, after spending 10 years caddying, but this is why I now have a whole closet full of long sleeve sunshirts.
Yep, my left forearm bruises very easily but not my right. I looked it up on WebMd and what I'm experiencing appears to be called solar purpura. Apparently, this is fairly common due to your left forearm getting more sun exposure while driving.
Have had squamous cell skin cancer for a few years. Went to a dermatologist about a year ago who biopsied and recommended Mohs surgery. No health insurance and they gave me an estimate of roughly $1,000.00 - 3,000.00 depending on how many cuts they have to make. So I was saving up but my housemate I'd rented a room to for 10 years died of cancer two weeks ago and now I'll have to figure out how to cover the regular bills without that income. So it'll be a minute before I can schedule surgery. For some of us a diagnosis is just the beginning.
I had one squamous cell and one basil cell carcinoma removed. I got checked every 6 months for a couple of years and then annually, but Dr went back to 6 months after the last visit. I spent a lot of time in farm fields the first 10 years out of college.
When my wife and I were dating, she had this scary looking mole on her shin. I tell her it needs to go.
She had been going to this dermatologist for something else, and he always told her it was nothing, and he is a professor of dermatology at U of Texas
I eventually tell her she has to get it removed before we get married. She initially thought I was joking.
She goes in to see the guy, who tells her it is nothing to worry about. She can't get married until it is gone, fiancee insists.
He thinks it is ridiculous, won't take it off himself, refers her to plastic surgeon.
I go with her, and the plastic surgeon sort of rolls his eyes, "The professor is getting pretty picky." She tells him I am the one who said it needs to go.
"What does a foot doctor know about dermatology?" I know everyone has skin on their feet. "That's true"
We get married the next day, and on Monday get a call, she needs to come in and talk to the doctor about biopsy results, which means the biopsy was not good. I ask what grade melanoma it was, which is the sort of question you ask when you already spoke the doctor. Clark's stage 1. Go to the dermatologist, who is looking at me a bit differently, asks what made me think it was bad. "Everything. It was too big, asymmetrical, variegated color, inflamed at the margin, it was all bad." He asks if there are any others I don' like, the one on her shoulder. He looks, yeah that needs to go, and marks 8 others that he wants removed. Go back to plastic surgeon to margins revised on known cancer, and other stuff cut off.
"You made the professor look like a real ass on this deal"
Turns out the one on her shoulder was also melanoma. She was 25, none since then, but I am keeping an eye on things. I apparently have a good eye
If it looks sketchy, cut it off.
Yes, I see the dermatologist once a year. She's very nice, and the exam doesn’t take long at all. I figure it’s cheap insurance.
In reply to Toebra :
A number of years ago I read an article in Scientific American that reviewed how piegons had been trained to inspect magnified tissue images and performed about as well at distinguishing between healthy and canserous cells as dermatologists. No hate for dermatolgists but there is a huge amount of subjectivity in their assessments.
Also, for my last inspection, from parking to backing out was less than 15 minutes.
There are dogs trained to literally sniff out cancer, no really.
Oh yeah, dermatologist never identifies melanoma by physical exam. They identify lesions to biopsy
Wife made me go in with her one time for her checkup. Had the dermatologist check my neck. Didn't like the way it looked and had it biopised. "MM" (Malignate Melinoma) is now on my history and I'm glad I listened to the wife -for a change. Had the surgery and it's gone. Now after going every three months, then six months, I'm only going yearly, but any time the doc even suspects a spot (I have to do a "head-to-toe" checkup), she removes it and has it looked at. So far, so good -10 years and counting- but wanted to let others know *If you're not sure have it looked at!!*.
Stan
The good news is the medication for advanced melanoma has improved dramatically recently. There is hope that the success with Melanoma will cross over into improvements in treating other types of cancer. The bad news is it is very expensive.
Just had a basil cell carcinoma removed from my face. Three internal and 6 external stitches. I've spent a ton of time in the sun over my life, especially when I was sailing regularly. Skin cancer is no joke. I get checked out annually and am much quicker at getting new/weird things checked.
I see a lot of patients with melanoma. Once it spreads it's more treatable than it used to be, but it's still pretty rare to get a complete response where you're essentially 'cured' - the best treatment is still far and away prevention.
My number one piece of advice is, wear sunscreen. All the time.
Number two is if it's bad enough to get cut off, it's bad enough to send to pathology. I've seen way too many patients come in a year after a mole removal with stage IV melanoma, who just had the original lesion frozen off and not sent for path.
Erich said:I see a lot of patients with melanoma. Once it spreads it's more treatable than it used to be, but it's still pretty rare to get a complete response where you're essentially 'cured' - the best treatment is still far and away prevention.
My number one piece of advice is, wear sunscreen. All the time.
Number two is if it's bad enough to get cut off, it's bad enough to send to pathology. I've seen way too many patients come in a year after a mole removal with stage IV melanoma, who just had the original lesion frozen off and not sent for path.
Agreed, I'm just personally happy that "pretty rare" response exists now. My Father is stage 4 and would now be gone if not for the new treatment. His response to treatment has all the medical professionals thrilled and is considered as much of a best case scenario as the treatment can provide. My fingers are crossed for the future, but as of right now it is pretty incredible.
I'm a shade baby, fair skin, blue eyes, thin blond hair (when younger). In home movies I looked like a milk bottle. Growing up in Florida, we went to the beach almost every Sunday, I spend Sunday night rubbing cooled wet tea bags on my shoulders and back to ease the blistering.
Fast forward a coupla decades: I go every 4-6 months to have nodules etc. frozen off my face with liquid nitrogen. I have melanoma on the inside of my lower lip, and in some suspicious looking spots on my side. Doc says it's systemic, remove the blooms as they show but the roots are in. When I started flying I got a huge blood red spot on my forearm which subsided in a few days, but I STRONGLY suggest looking into Solumbra clothing products. SPF 100 and well ventilated.
YMMV. Good luck.
Will echo three things: 1. Getting a skin check is fast and super easy. 2. Always get the biopsy. 3. A good dermatologist will shave something off at your request.
I used to do a lot of marketing work for a dermatology clinic in South Florida. Hours and hours of workdays spent looking at pictures of melanomas and writing copy encouraging people to get skin checks and explaining what mohs surgery is. Needless to say, that made me a faithful devotee to the church of sun protection and annual skin checks. I still slip up and get a sunburn from time to time, but I wear sunscreen on my face every day and always have a hat with me.
Erich said:
Number two is if it's bad enough to get cut off, it's bad enough to send to pathology.
Actually, that maybe should be number one. I never understood the idea of destroying your specimen with liquid nitrogen. That and, I have seen a LOT of nasty scars from the destruction crosses the basement membrane. It actually makes me sort of angry
Welp, today was the day for annual checkup.
Doctor: Hmmmm, there’s this oddly shaped mole on the back of your shoulder. Should we take it off now for a biopsy?
Me: Please and thank you.
How would I have ever even noticed it, never mind wondered if it was good or not? They numbed it and I barely felt a thing.
So, yeah, I’m thinking today’s visit was well worth the time.
And now we wait....
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Wishing you all the best, friend.
In reply to Scotty Con Queso :
Thanks. So now we wait.
Every 4 to 6 months, liquid nitrogen burns stuff off my face and inside my lower lip. Dr.: "It's systemic, it's through your body and all we can do is cut off the bits of root looking to expand".
Great. Growing up in St. Pete our entertainment was going to Madera Beach where as a shade baby, I got burnt to a crisp, blisters and all that. Mom would sponge strong tea across my shoulders, the tannins help with pain. I would heal just in time to go back next Sunday.
Yes! Get checked out. I foolishly took up the hobby of flying closer to the sun inside a plastic greenhouse. Go buy an SPF 100 long sleeve Tee.
I agree with the sentiment of this post. Wife had melanoma a decade ago. Fair skin, years of sunburns.
Apparently it is also important to see an eye doctor regularly as melanoma metastasizes to the eyes.
So beware!
This year I had a weird mole cut off my cheek and biopsied. Then it escalated after lab work into a pretty serious cut and cover. Thankfully not cancerous but Harry Potter is jealous of my scar.
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