I have fairly light skin, light hair and blue eyes, so the result is that I am a skin cancer scare waiting to happen.
I am not much in the way of a sun-tanning bunny. It is not that I am all self-righteous about the sun, it is just that I could not be arsed to sit around in it until the end of time to catch a tan. But I also do not lather myself with sunscreen …
I am not very good with skin-routine, so if my face gets a wash with a Lux bar of soap, it can count itself lucky, and moisturizer and other globs of lotion are a bit of a pipe dream in my neck of the woods.
I mean to pop to my dermatologist once a year for a quick once over. I like someone else to stare at my small dark spots and make a judgement, but I just have not got there this year.
Or for the last three years.
I decided I would get my arse there before year-end, and tick it off my “not quite as exciting as a bucket list” but really needs to be attended to.
I had my dermatologist appointment today. I do not really have moles, I have freckles though. The one thing that had been bothering me was that I had this mark on my nose, and one on the side of my nose. It looks like I have cut the side/end of my nose, and that I have an indent from glasses on the side of my nose. And I don’t wear glasses.
It has been there for about two to three years. Recently I have noticed it and now that I know it is there, I have really started to get concerned that “what if it is…..”
It was the main motivation for me going today.
Found a really great dermatologist with rather swish looking offices. Clearly a caters towards a target audience that appreciates chandeliers and baroque inspired furniture.
He diligently went over my skin with a magnifying glass. It seems my skin is not bad considering I have been sunburnt to a crisp in my youth, and do not use any sunblock or moisturiser since. I got a bit worried when he was sitting with a magnifying glass going over my toes – I believe there is a rogue long hair on my toe that I have been meaning to attend to, but there I was with all of me exposed.
But it appears that the little “cut” on my nose is indeed cancer and it needs to be removed. Or pre-cancer. Or cancer that is not “a total emergency” but needs to be attended to. Shortly.
I made an appointment for the 26 January – first gap I could get. Dermatologists have a good gig it seems.
I am very thankful today that I have medical aid, and can get my arse to the odd medical checkup. Had I had to spend 10 hours waiting in a public hospital for a little look over, odds are I would not have gone, and even if I had, I would have not been checked over by a dermatologist, and it would have been overlooked.
I would like to thank Discovery Medical Aid for relieving us of a large sum of money every month, but at the same time, if it was not for medical aid, I might only have seen to my “little cut” when my nose turned black and fell off.
When are you going for your dermatology check up?
Baglady
/ December 21, 2011Glad you went and it was caught early.
Anita
/ December 21, 2011Okay, so now the guilt trip about the dermatologist will start in my head. Your not-so-gentle prodding about the breast exam made me go for one when I have ignored that nagging voice in my head for the last 3 years (despite having an issue that I was supposed to go back to have re-checked two and a half years ago!). So, thank you my friend for having a louder voice than the nagging one in my head. Will pop off for a skin check as soon as I can get an appointment because unfortunately I am a sun-loving bunny.
Kat
/ December 20, 2011Glad you got a good doctor and that you got there early. A note on your comment that they have a good gig. I decided to make my yearly lady bits appointment and figured I would get a day somewhere in Feb maybe March. Ahem the earliest I could get was the 7 June. Now gynae’s they have a really good gig.
Sharon
/ December 20, 2011My Dad has skin cancer and has battled with it for most of my life, the premalignant and malignant kind. As a result I do slather myself, my husband and my child in sunblock.
His Dermatologist motto is fry now pay later. So we are attempting to not fry now in an attempt to not pay later!
All the best for the removal!
Marcia (123 blog)
/ December 20, 2011Oh my GOSH! So glad you went early.
I went last year after my massage therapist (!) noticed a mole on my back getting bigger. Thankfully he checked me over and pronounced me healthy, and that mole a non-cancer getting mole. Who knew?!
How are you feeling? You sound all breezy but it must be quite terrifying…?
reluctantmom
/ December 20, 2011I did have a little gulp ….. but he tried to reassure me that as long as I took care of it reasonably quickly it will be fine. So I ran to the receptionist and made an appointment. I was also a bit shocked to find out that my rather large birthmark on my side is considered a mole, and needs to be checked every year as it is probably the higher candidate for “skin cancer” … as you said, who knew!!!
Plan to make him my yearly best friend. But the 26th will be a bit of a burn off or what ever else they do. {I am only mildly catastrophising this … so I am trying to repeat it-is-fine; it-is-fine; it-is-fine; it-is-fine; it-is-fine; …..}