use sunscreen

[lauradi7dw]

Easier than trying to not have my genetic heritage. My parents have had many skin cancers over time, all basal or squamous cell. It has left me easily worried by any skin oddities I have, and I have lots. I go to the dermatologist every year or two, which is probably excessive. I considered cancelling my appointment this year (small room with strangers), but in the spring there was a place on my arm that bothered me, plus the usual list of "this is probably nothing, but..." The thing that is interesting about hanging around with dermatologists (I have been going with my parents for several years, plus my own visits) is how many different skin things with names there are. The arm thing was quickly pronounced a Seborrheic keratosis and dismissed as uninteresting. The hard spot on my right leg that doesn't even bother me had another name that I don't remember. But the spot on my left cheek (as opposed to all the moles on my face and the hardened spot on my forehead, whose category I have also forgotten) is an actinic keratosis, which is categorized as "pre-cancerous." Considering how many people we lose to cancer, it's tempting to call all body parts pre-cancerous, but I know what they mean. I now have had the procedure that happens to my parents a lot - freezing the spot with nitrogen spray. It's cold, and then it stings. It was unpleasant but the aspect that worried me most at the time was that I had to remove my masks (plural. I have been double masking for circumstances that feel infectious to me). But the visit, while thorough, was brief. I spent more time waiting for my prescription (a different kind of cream for the itchy flakey area of my right ear) than I did with the dermatologist, I think.