WEAR SUNSCREEN!

May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

My Granny Wilma died from a malignant melanoma in the late 80s, so my whole life has been a continuous lecture on wearing sunscreen.

In addition to wearing SPF 30+ on my face daily and on my body when I’m going to be outside. I wear sunglasses and hats outside, and I also wear a rash guard (SPF shirt) if I’m going to be in a bathing suit during the day, and if we’re going to the beach, we bring a tent. I’m not about to get a damn sunburn.

Almost all of the adults (ya know, the parents and aunts and uncles) have had skin cancers and other concerning skin cells removed or burned off. And last year I joined them.

I had a spot of abnormal cells on my back that had to be removed. Despite taking extra skin (I think) on the first removal, they didn’t get completely clear margins and I had to have even more skin dug out.

Just in case you ever have to have this done, it was so easy. The numbing injection is the worst part and it’s literally a little burn, but they massaged it around to help it kick in faster and then you feel nothing. I am not a fan of being uncomfortable, so trust me if it was painful at all, I would say so. I was waiting for the spot to hurt after the numbing stuff wore off, but it never did. It was weird to think about and I was nervous about rinsing/washing it and having a small skin hole in my back freaked me out, but that was all mental gymnastics, not physical discomfort. I did name it my back hole and talked about it constantly until it healed. I am an insufferable patient.

It was so weird because I couldn’t see the spot so I have only seen pictures of the wound.

If you haven’t seen a dermatologist before, go see one ASAP.

If you are in the Orlando area, I love my dermatologist, Dr. Candace Glenn at Mid Florida Dermatology.

This is a content warning, kind of gross pictures of my skin removal wound are coming up next. You’ve been warned.

If you aren’t interested in seeing the pictures, there isn’t anything else interesting after them so you’re good to go now.

It felt like forever waiting for it to completely heal, but it’s worth it to know that the abnormal cells were removed, and not cancerous.