Lessons from my experience with skin cancer
I often joke that I’m turning into a tree as I age. Stuff is growing all over me.
It was no joke, though, when one of the dark spots on my forehead started looking ominous late in the summer.
In September, I was diagnosed with skin cancer.
What surprised me was that a second growth that had been removed during my exam, on the back of my left shoulder, also was skin cancer. I hadn’t been worried about that one.
Two months later, after two minor outpatient surgeries, my forehead and back are cancer free.
So I am extra thankful this Thanksgiving.
I am sharing my story to encourage others to get checked routinely for skin cancer. And to share a lesson from the foolishness of my teenage years.
I started having an annual skin exam at a dermatologist about three years ago. I went at the advice of my physician, to have a mole examined.
It was removed and was benign. I’ve had a few others removed that turned out to be harmless too.
Concerned about the spot on my forehead, I moved up my annual exam by a few months this year.
It was a good thing that I did.
That growth and the growth on my back were diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma, the second-most common type of skin cancer.
“The trick with nonmelanoma skin cancer is sometimes it could look like an innocent red patch of eczema or it could look like a benign lesion,” said my dermatologist, Dr. Daniel Shurman of Dermatology Partners in Amity Township, Berks County.
“But, usually, it grows over time.” “The problem with these things is you don’t know which ones are slow-growing and which ones are fast-growing,” Shurman told me. “Some come as a bump, some come as a flat patch. Some are scaly, some aren’t as scaly. Some have ulceration, some don’t. Some kind of blend into the skin.”
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. One of every five Americans will get it, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association. About 9,500 people are diagnosed every day.
Approximately 1.8 million cases of squamous cell carcinoma are diagnosed annually, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common, with an estimated 3.6 million cases annually.
“They’re extremely common and people are pretty uneducated about it,” Shurman said.
They also are highly treatable when caught early. I am fortunate mine was.
I did not protect my fair skin when I was younger. I played baseball, never with sunscreen. I worked several summers as a landscaper, often shirtless, without sunscreen.
I recall one day when I was cutting grass at an apartment complex. I was 16 or 17. A tenant told me my back was bright red and burned. I told her it didn’t bother me.
While it didn’t bother me then, it seems my carelessness caught up with me.
Nonmelanoma skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma typically are linked to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
People who have had skin cancer are at higher risk for developing another skin cancer. So I will be going for a skin exam more frequently, every six months, for the near future.
There is no guideline for the age when people should start having an annual skin exam. Shurman told me people with fair skin should consider an exam around age 40.
It’s quick, painless and nothing to be afraid of.
Some skin cancers can be self-diagnosed with a little research, just as I knew the spot on my forehead was trouble.
But not all are easily detectable. That’s why I chose to rely on a professional, years ago.
“I would say 80 to 90% of our skin checks, people come in for one thing and they leave saying, ‘The thing I thought was bad was OK, but the thing that I thought was OK you took off and was skin cancer,’ ” Shurman told me.
“Then people come in the next time and they are worried about every single spot that they have. And that’s where going to somebody with good credentials who knows what they’re doing, does a full thorough skin check, can give you peace of mind.”
After two months of worry, I have peace of mind. I will count that among my blessings this holiday season.