Skin Care

My heritage is Irish and I have the pale, freckled skin to prove it. I sure wish I'd been more careful about sunburns in my youth but, what the heck, who knew in those days what it could do to your skin in later life.

I've had 2 spots of skin cancer removed from my upper chest and been very lucky that it didn't scar badly. I see a dermatologist about twice a year because I have quite a lot of pre-cancerous spots on my face. I have to assume that this means the skin cells have gone through some sort of change that isn't normal. The latest bad change was a sore on my lip that wouldn't heal, just kept scabbing over.

Yesterday was my first visit of the year to the dermatologist and she sprayed the life out of my face...nose, lip, under the eye and beside it. She even did a few passes over my forehead. Then she sprayed 2 suspicious spots on my upper chest. The spray is liquid nitrogen and hurts like hell when the spraying on one spot is prolonged. Her main concern was my lip so she sprayed it for about a minute. Yikes!

Today I look like I've been in a fight and I was the one who lost. My eye is swollen and there are blisters on my lip. Sunburn is what brought me to this stage and I really wish I'd known better than to ever sunbathe, especially unprotected by sunscreen.

I also have some thickening of the skin between my nose and eye that isn't very noticeable but irritates me quite a bit so I'm having it lasered at the end of June. This wasn't caused by sun exposure so it's not covered by OHIP but the benefit to my peace of mind is worth the cost.

I'm so glad that there is so much information blasted at us now about the dangers of sun on the skin. It will mean fewer old ladies in the future having the problems that I'm having now.