My first skin check!
I'm sitting here with my laptop and a bag of Stacy's Pesto & Sundried Tomato Pita Chips. They are so addictive. I think I could eat the whole bag. I have a good start on that, actually. (I am obviously not paying one bit of attention to bad carbs today.)
A few months ago I decided to make an appt. with a dermatologist to have every inch of my skin checked for anything suspicious. I have never done this before, but have read how important it is to do once a year. As I was driving to the appt. this morning, I was really not looking forward to having every square inch of naked skin inspected -- even by a woman -- and I was wondering why I was doing this when I had absolutely nothing noticable to point out. Oh well, I thought, I'll be glad I did this when it's over. I'll confirm I have nothing to worry about.
Wrong. It turned out I had three tiny black dots that had to be removed! I'm not talking about moles. I'm talking about little dots that looked like I got bumped with a pen. I've never even noticed them. But the doctor said that when these little specks turn from brown to black, it means cells are multiplying rapidly -- which could be the beginning of Melanoma! If it is, you definitely want to catch it when it's in this very early stage.
She showed me two spots very near each other. One was brown and one was black. I never would have seen the difference without having it pointed out to me. It was so slight. But she explained that the color made it suspicious enough that she needed to remove it and send it off for biopsy. I had THREE of these. They are called Dysplastic Nevi.
So I left with a total of six stitches, two for each dot. There was less discomfort than giving blood. Just a little needle prick to numb the area before the cutting. She said I might be kind of sore later, after the numbing wore off, but I'm not. It was no big deal. It's so weird to think that something so tiny could be the start of a struggle for life. I'm really glad I did this!
I'll go back in two weeks to have the stitches removed and find out the results of the pathology report. They evaluate it for mild, moderate or severe risk. Anything other than mild means more cutting of the surrounding tissue. You better believe I will be adding this preventive measure to my annual check-ups.
During my procedures, one of the assistants asked if I had kids. I told her I had a 30-year-old son and two grandsons. She told me I did not look old enough and that she was expecting me to say I had a three or four year old. I said, "It is almost worth coming in and being cut on for that compliment. Can I come back and be cut on again tomorrow?" LOL. (Not really.)
If you haven't ever done this, go get your skin checked now! There are so many things we can prevent by just the slightest inconvenience and/or discomfort in our day. No matter how unpleasant you may think doing this will be, it is quite preferable to Melanoma.
A few months ago I decided to make an appt. with a dermatologist to have every inch of my skin checked for anything suspicious. I have never done this before, but have read how important it is to do once a year. As I was driving to the appt. this morning, I was really not looking forward to having every square inch of naked skin inspected -- even by a woman -- and I was wondering why I was doing this when I had absolutely nothing noticable to point out. Oh well, I thought, I'll be glad I did this when it's over. I'll confirm I have nothing to worry about.
Wrong. It turned out I had three tiny black dots that had to be removed! I'm not talking about moles. I'm talking about little dots that looked like I got bumped with a pen. I've never even noticed them. But the doctor said that when these little specks turn from brown to black, it means cells are multiplying rapidly -- which could be the beginning of Melanoma! If it is, you definitely want to catch it when it's in this very early stage.
She showed me two spots very near each other. One was brown and one was black. I never would have seen the difference without having it pointed out to me. It was so slight. But she explained that the color made it suspicious enough that she needed to remove it and send it off for biopsy. I had THREE of these. They are called Dysplastic Nevi.
So I left with a total of six stitches, two for each dot. There was less discomfort than giving blood. Just a little needle prick to numb the area before the cutting. She said I might be kind of sore later, after the numbing wore off, but I'm not. It was no big deal. It's so weird to think that something so tiny could be the start of a struggle for life. I'm really glad I did this!
I'll go back in two weeks to have the stitches removed and find out the results of the pathology report. They evaluate it for mild, moderate or severe risk. Anything other than mild means more cutting of the surrounding tissue. You better believe I will be adding this preventive measure to my annual check-ups.
During my procedures, one of the assistants asked if I had kids. I told her I had a 30-year-old son and two grandsons. She told me I did not look old enough and that she was expecting me to say I had a three or four year old. I said, "It is almost worth coming in and being cut on for that compliment. Can I come back and be cut on again tomorrow?" LOL. (Not really.)
If you haven't ever done this, go get your skin checked now! There are so many things we can prevent by just the slightest inconvenience and/or discomfort in our day. No matter how unpleasant you may think doing this will be, it is quite preferable to Melanoma.
Comments
I think about that often as more news comes out about melanoma. I remember all those summers that my family spent (all summer long) camping out at California beach parks. We kids would get so sunburned and ultimately we'd come back home in the fall with our skin all toasty brown. We did this year after year.
At an even younger age, my parents always traveled for weeks in the summer and several times we camped out at Strawberry Lake in the California mountains where we kids would get terribly sunburned. This was before the clever invention of sunblock.
I've always wondered if someday there'll be a price to pay for all that sun exposure besides premature wrinkling, that is. At the time, we had not heard of melanoma. I think I'm gonna make that appointment you suggested.
Thank goodness you did. Hopefully, nothing bad will come of those spots they found.
She said that if they were on their way to becoming something scary, we caught them very early and before they would be a threat to my health. That is why these regular checks, when you don't even think anything's wrong, are so important.