It is officially May
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month!
Allow me to take you on a little walk and transport you to another time....
A Time of DISCO
Soul GLO............
And... generally unfortunate decisions.
Yes, Welcome to the 70's. An era when we all lived on the edge! Child Car Seats? We didn't need no stinking car seats! Hell, my folks use to let me stand up on the seat of the car, without a seat belt (hence the scar under my chin from my jaw meeting the dashboard when my mama hit the brakes too hard once), as they cruised around town in our family Ford Pinto! (Remember those cars? They were riddled with design flaws and the slightest rear impact would turn them into a fiery death trap!)
HOW DID WE MAKE IT OUT OF THE 70'S ALIVE?
Ahhhh yes. Also the era that the (in)famous "California girl next door" look began to take a foothold across the nation. That trend extended to the 80's. Think Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Tiegs and Christie Brinkley.
We all wanted to be those girls. Tan and blonde and carefree!
Well, let me tell you a little story. It's about a red headed, blue eyed, pasty-white girl from the rough and tumble streets from Dayton Ohio. She wanted to look like those girls on the magazine covers.
She saved for months and then bought herself a lifetime supply of baby oil and a couple of bottles of Sun-In. She decided that 'THIS" would be her summer of her "Cali-Girl" transformation.
That girl had moxie. The odds were stacked against her. But she had to go for it. She dumped an entire bottle of Sun-In on her head, doused herself in baby oil, grabbed a tin foil reflecting blanket and headed to the community pool.
Long story long, that girl ended up that summer with bright orange Ronald McDonald hair and multiple blistering sunburns that, more than once, almost landed her in the hospital from sun poisoning. She never got that tan she dreamt of. It wasn't in the cards for her no matter how hard she tried. Only months of lobster-y red skin, swollen feet, endless peeling and miserable pain. She was destined to be the girl at the local pool under a tree, in a tee shirt and a wide brimmed hat for the rest of her life. Watching as all those tan blondies in bikinis won the hearts of every 6th grade boy at my school. *sigh*
But that girl little girl from an Ohio steel town had a dream to dance. The deck was stacked against her and her blistered skin. How did she overcome the those odds? By believing in herself! She literally had to become a 'MANIAC'! She had to strip down to nothing but her pasty white birthday suit and sit in a chair on a stage with her back arched...and she pulled a chain to nowhere and doused herself with water!!! She believed in herself! She believed so hard SHE SPUN! And she SPUN AGAIN! And she spun herself into that exclusive Dance School and into our hearts!
****Disclaimer: Everything BUT that last paragraph is 100% true. The last part is from the movie Flash Dance. But.... in my head, that's how my story SHOULD have ended.
This is how it ACTUALLY ended.
OKAYYYY... So the point of this lengthy anecdote is that we have all made sun mistakes. Thankfully, we all know better by now. And as a wise person (Maya Angelou) once said, "When you know better, you do better."
So let's start by undoing some of the sun damage from decades past and prevent UV damage for decades to come.
WEAR YOUR SUNBLOCK!
I cannot emphasize this enough. You need to be wearing an SPF 30-45. Every. Single. Day.
Anything over that number won't really give you more UV protection. Only dump more chemicals in your skin.
If you will be out for prolonged periods of time-reapply your sunblock every 1-2 hours. Go read my Blog on the TRUTH ABOUT SPF. It's not as boring as it sounds. I promise.
My favorite SPF is Elta MD. It's affordable and offers more physical protection than OTC sunblocks.
USE A GOOD TOPICAL ANTIOXIDANT EVERY MORNING.
Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals (those scavenger cells that cause accelerated photo aging) and help repair your skin's cellular DNA.
I love SKINMEDICA'S TNS ESSENTIAL SERUM AND SKINCEUTICAL'S PHLORETIN CF.
AVOID TANNING BEDS!
Duh! Do NOT make me come over there and smack you on your head.
SEE YOUR DERMATOLOGIST ANNUALLY (more frequently if you have personal or family history of skin cancer) FOR MOLE CHECKS!
LEARN THE 'A, B, C, D AND E's' of Skin Cancer Detection.
If you have a suspicious mole or lesion, get into your Derm and get it checked out. Like, NOW.
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| From Sun Safety Alliance Photos |
The ABCDE rule is a quick and helpful guide for detecting the usual signs of skin cancer. It is vital to monitor your skin and contact your doctor about any spots that match the following descriptions:
A- Asymmetry: Normal moles or freckles are completely symmetrical. If you were to draw a line through a normal spot, you would have two symmetrical halves. In cases of skin cancer, spots will not look the same on both sides.
B- Border: A mole or spot with blurry and/or jagged edges.
C- Color: A mole that is more than one hue is suspicious and needs to be evaluated by a doctor. Normal spots are usually one color. This can include lightening or darkening of the mole.
D- Diameter: If it is larger than a pencil eraser (about 1/4 inch or 6mm), it needs to be examined by a doctor. This is includes areas that do not have any other abnormalities (color, border, asymmetry).
E- Elevation: Elevation means the mole is raised above the surface and has an uneven surface.
These are just the very basics here, folks.
See your Doctor or Skin Care Professional for a customized treatment plan and skin care regime.
Love yourself. Love your skin! And pass this on!
Don't let Skin Cancer affect you or someone you love!
HOW OLD YOU ARE IS YOUR BUSINESS, HOW OLD YOU LOOK IS OURS!
Never settle for a good time, when a GREAT time is there to be had!
Michelle and Nancy
THE SKIN GURUS
http://skin-gurus.com
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