Skin cancer scare---

[Sunrise Guy]

I had this pimple appear on my head right under the area where I wear my sweat band, under my helmet. The thing would not go away. I finally buffed it with a loofah, after two weeks, and thought that was that. It wasn't. The next day it was swollen and the day after that a pinkish, rough-looking wound was in its place. When I examined it under 2X magnification it looked a bit like a basal cell carcinoma, so I kept an eye on it for the next week. It didn't heal up or get worse but it was annoying, especially since it was on my face. When I went to the dermatologist he told me it might be an actinic keratosis and that ten percent become malignant. I had him freeze the thing, and the next day I had a dime-sized black and blue mark. Over the next eight days it shrunk and then fell off. I now have a small, smooth, pink area that looks nicely healed.

In our profession, we do spend all of our time outdoors. On pruning gigs, we are usually in the shade, but take-downs can see us exposed to direct sun for long stretches of time. I urge all of my brothers and sisters out there to not forget about sun block and proper clothing to avoid sunburn. Don't put off seeing your doctor if a skin growth looks weird to you. In my other life as a tattooist, I caught one melanoma on a client and two pre-cancerous growths on two others. Skin cancer is, most often, a treatable and curable condition, provided you catch it in its early stages. Again, see your doctor as soon as you see something on your skin that doesn't look right to you.

Stay safe out there.

 

[blueatlascedar]

Great Advice

Great advice brother! I'm glad it all work out in a positive light for you. Back a number of years I had a mole right on my neck where the tshirt rides all day long. It began to grow and bleed alot and it would get nick around a good bit from the chuck and duck chipper. My doctor eyed it up one day in there for a appointment for something else and said I don't like the looks of that. He had me lay down, nailed me with some novacaine and went to town. He ended up cutting a wound the diameter of a quarter and put 4 stitches on it and sent it to the lab. It came back negative, but it made me think. Your advice is good brother and shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

[lego1970]

Good post, I just started to notice this year that my neck and chest area are starting to look wrinkled and leathery. I'm only 38 but 48, 58, and 68 will come quickly so I've been trying to disipline myself to use sun screen. I drive semi's too and I've always noticed the older guys always have skin problems on their left forearms. Luckily my sister-n-law is a Dermatologist so I get free poison ivy cream and later on in life I guess she will be able to cut or freeze my skin problems. Good post.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

Good post, I just started to notice this year that my neck and chest area are starting to look wrinkled and leathery. I'm only 38 but 48, 58, and 68 will come quickly so I've been trying to disipline myself to use sun screen. I drive semi's too and I've always noticed the older guys always have skin problems on their left forearms. Luckily my sister-n-law is a Dermatologist so I get free poison ivy cream and later on in life I guess she will be able to cut or freeze my skin problems. Good post.

Thanks. Yeah, the leathery skin look is not good. Going back, again, to my tattooist days, I would really rake over the coals these 18 yr. old girls who would come in for tattoos with their forty year old skin, from tanning beds. One came in with about a 4"x4" scarred-up patch of skin. She told me she had a melanoma that had gone deep, when she was just 16. She went on to say that she had been doing tanning bed sessions since she was ten! She had her head on straight, after the surgery, and told me that she warns her friends about tanning beds all the time. While I'm on the subject: There are absolutely no safe tanning beds. Tell your friends, family and lovers.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Due to being near the "hole" in the ozone layer over antarctica we have a very strong sun. tourist come to NZ and wonder how come they burn in 10 minutes. Skin cancer rates are very high. I know 2 people that have died from it and its a terrible way to go. Dad, mum, wife, sister have all had moles removed.

Take it seriously, if you have moles that change colour or shape or are just odd, get em checked out.

 

[outofmytree]

I add my 2 cents worth here.

I cop a lot of flack from other tree guys for wearing long sleeves and long pants all year round. Then I point em to my leading hand who has nasty hole in his nose. I fear skin cancer more than ridicule. Cover up friends.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

I add my 2 cents worth here.

I cop a lot of flack from other tree guys for wearing long sleeves and long pants all year round. Then I point em to my leading hand who has nasty hole in his nose. I fear skin cancer more than ridicule. Cover up friends.

I also wear long-sleeved shirts all year long, white ones, that I buy at garage sales for $1 apiece. I go through about ten a year, and that's a small price to pay for a some skin protection. I'm actually cooler in long sleeves than short ones and I don't get all scratched up like some of my guys do. In 104F, the long sleeves keep my arms cooler, while the Noxema that I rub on the shirt before a gig, keeps the bugs away.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Due to being near the "hole" in the ozone layer over antarctica we have a very strong sun. tourist come to NZ and wonder how come they burn in 10 minutes. Skin cancer rates are very high. I know 2 people that have died from it and its a terrible way to go. Dad, mum, wife, sister have all had moles removed.

Take it seriously, if you have moles that change colour or shape or are just odd, get em checked out.

Each year in New Zealand about 1600 people are diagnosed with melanoma http://www.everybody.co.nz/page-94e39803-0ee2-466f-90b4-b27ba22755d1.aspx

Population: 4,173,460 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/nz.html


that is a .383% rate