Saw my dermatologist yesterday. Another dodgy spot/biopsy/basal cell carcinoma plus a patch of Actinic Keratosis on my nose treated along with large plaques of Senile Keratosis on my back. All in spite of responsible sun exposure for close to 50 years…well, longer really if you count growing up in England.
At least dad’s gift of fair skin is visible. So many folk my age with the equally visible signs of Moh’s procedures so, at least, I’ve escaped that. So far
To pick a nit, the procedure was developed by Dr. Frederick Mohs (some 90 years ago at the University of Wisconsin) so no apostrophe needed.
DB2
Or Mohs’
The Captain
Here lately every time I go to the dermatologist she takes biopsies and calls a couple of days later and off I go to the Mhos dude. Several times she has found three sites and the Mhos dude won’t do three at a time so that means multiple trips plus another multiple trips to get the stitches removed.
He said something about if he does three sites at one time I would be sorry. Hey man, I look like Frankenstein already let’s go for it and get it over with. Put the biggest bandage you can find on my head, ear, nose, etc.
I saw the PA in my dermatologist’s office yesterday for a skin cancer screening. One of my sisters has had melanoma twice. She is ok and gets the best of treatment, both were caught early, and about ten years apart.
My PA, who is Jewish, said I should be checked as I discussed my mother’s and sister’s cases of skin cancer, her retort going out the door, “You have that fair skin”. To which, “Actually, I have the Canaanite skin”. She was laughing. The aide in the room probably had no clue.
I’ve had Mohs done a few times so far, always on my scalp. One was very large and required a plastic surgeon to close it up, and took many months to fully heal. Not something I ever want to repeat!
I now see my dermatologist at least twice a year plus followups for any procedures or treatments I’ve had. One treatment I did a few years ago, and again last year, was to use an ointment on my scalp for 2-3 weeks that is a form of chemotherapy for non-melanoma skin cancers. Oddly enough, it’s the same drug (5-fluorouracil) that my dad received intravenously when he had chemotherapy for colon cancer over 30 years ago.
When I was a kid and young adult, I regularly got sunburned a few times every summer, once or twice even severely sunburned. Now I’m paying for it. My kids, since birth, have used sun protection regularly. And I’m strongly encouraging it for my grandkids as well. Nevertheless, one of my daughters required Mohs surgery on her nose a few months ago, but luckily it wasn’t very deep and is healing nicely.
I now always wear a hat when I’m out in the sun. Always!
Be sure to shade the top of your ears…
DB2
Haven’t had any problems on the ears yet, but for any extended sun exposure, I DO liberally apply sunscreen on my ears (and nose and unbearded areas of my face).
If I really have a long period of time planned out in the sun (and I don’t do that anymore), then I have one of those floppy hats that cover the head, ears, and back of neck. I’ve only used it twice in the 10+ years that I’ve owned it.
True. A lot of the older male nursing home patients at Mom and Dad’s nursing home, especially the golfers, had extensive, sometimes gruesome, holes in their noses and ears from skin cancer surgery. Bumps on the nose were like tips of the iceberg where most of the cancer lay under the surface and had to be dug out by the surgeon.
I cannot undo my 70 year old weathered facial wrinkles, but my large Sunday Afternoons hat covers my face, nose, ears and neck and it has been several years since I last had a precancer burned off.
A friend of mine, age 91, sold art in the Renaissance Fairs for years. He has a hole in his skull from a cancer removal. His skin is much of the cover over the hole. Big divit if you will.
So…no trip to the Moses dude for me!! Just an early seborrheic keratosis lesion and totally removed by the biopsy. I thought the back would be an odd place for basal cell…but then, I’m the poster child for the unexpected, apparently, so it would be just my luck.