My Personal Experience with Skin Cancer

I had a small spot of skin on the right side of my nose that had been scaly for months and would not heal up. I thought at first it was probably eczema and tried several over-the-counter remedies to see if it would help the problem. It did not help, so in December 2007, I saw a dermatologist. He told me I needed to have a biopsy and proceeded to do a punch biopsy right on the spot (some pun intended).

A few days later, the pathology report came back positive for squamous cell carcinoma. I was scheduled for the surgery in January, 2008. The surgery was done in the doctor's office under local anesthetic. After enduring about six or eight injections of the local anesthetic, the doctor set to work. I kept my eyes shut almost the entire time, since he was working right in my field of vision. He was quick and very adept at the procedure and finished with the surgery in about 15 minutes. He sutured the incision, gave me instructions for keeping the wound clean and scheduled a time for me to come back to get the stitches out. Everything went very smoothly and I felt so relieved, especially when pathology came back stating that he had been successful in removing all of the cancerous tissue.

I was just a few weeks late getting back in for my annual screening of skin cancer. After one quick look by my dermatologist, he again produced that dreaded black pen and drew a circle around a small area on my nose. He stated in a matter-of-fact manner that we needed to biopsy that place once again. I underwent the same procedure they performed one year earlier. I am now awaiting the pathology report once again. He told me that he would likely treat any remaining cancer cells with one of the "chemical agents" instead of doing more surgery on this same spot. If, by chance, the biopsy removed all of the cancer cells, then I would require no further treatment but will need to follow-up in one year for my annual screening.

It seems that skin cancer is a genetic thing in my family since two of my four brothers have also had surgery for skin cancer. One brother had basal cell carcinoma and the other brother was not sure what type of skin cancer he had, although his surgery was far more extensive than mine.

My family has fair skin with our familial roots in Europe, which makes us much more prone to damage from the rays of the sun and more likely to have skin cancer.

It is also important to note that the skin damage we are seeing today is the result of a lifetime of sun exposure. The sun's rays are cumulative within the skin so my skin cancer is a result of being out in the sunshine throughout my childhood, teens and early twenties. During those days, sunscreen was unheard of and no one sheltered their pale skin from the direct rays of the sun. Today we are paying the price for playing in the sunshine without protection.

Our grandparents and great-grandparents were much wiser about the sun. Everyone wore long skirts, long sleeved shirts and long trousers even in the heat of summer. Of course in those days, a premium was placed upon pale colored skin. The whiter the better back in those days, so women would wear sun bonnets and carry large umbrellas to keep the sun off the skin. Today, we expose more and more of our skin to sunlight and we are reaping the reward by finding higher and higher percentages of people with skin cancers. It is a very high price to pay for trying to look tan and beautiful.

It is too late for me, although, these days I do wear sunscreen and keep my skin well protected from the sun's rays. The damage was done early in life when we were unaware of how damaging and dangerous the sun can be, especially on fair skin. I hope others who are young and desiring a tan will heed my warning and won't have to endure repeated surgeries to remove skin cancers from their bodies. An ounce of prevention is really worth a pound of cure!

Source:
Personal History