When I was a kid I spent every summer in the pool. I would be the color of burnt toast by the end of the summer with a perpetually red peeling nose. My mother would apply thick goopey zinc oxide to my raw nose and I would wipe it off as soon as I got to the pool. I hated it. I’ve had multiple bad sunburns; some so bad I had the chills and big blisters. I didn’t start using sun block until my early 20’s. I wasn’t aware of what the sun could do to me.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, my father was diagnosed with stage II melanoma. This news alarmed dermatologists because my father is Middle Eastern and it’s unusual for someone of his ethnicity to get melanoma. He’s also had basal cell carcinoma removed. Thankfully both cancers were removed and he’s fine but it means that I have a higher risk of skin cancer, and as such have had multiple suspicious moles removed. “Better Swiss cheese than dead,” my dermatologist said, and I fully agree. Nothing has been cancerous but I still have to go in to have full body checks frequently because I have lots of moles, and was an idiot as a kid.
My extremely fair skinned daughter has recently begun arguing with me about wearing a rash guard while she swims. It’s annoying and her friends don’t have to. I nag her to constantly reapply sunscreen and I typically don’t take my kids swimming until around 4pm- to avoid the dangerous hours of 10-3. It’s a drag but I don’t care. I’ve told her multiple times she’d thank me when she was fifty because she’d have non wrinkly skin and she’d actually be alive. It didn’t hit home until I asked her to watch this video called “Dear 16-year-old Me.” A few minutes later she called upstairs, “Okay mom, I won’t argue anymore about wearing my rash guard.”
I urge everyone reading this to check your skin. Learn about the ABCD's of melanoma: asymmetry, borders, color and diameter. Learn how to do a full body check and do it, once a month. If you find something suspicious see a dermatologist as soon as possible, because melanoma spreads fast. It also affects children. One of the participants in this video lost his little sister to melanoma when she was just 16. So make sure your kids are protected, wear sunscreen and are educated about the risks of tanning beds, the sun and skin cancer.
I was telling a friend about the video, and she said she almost didn’t want to watch it because she didn’t want to know, she was afraid. Pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make something bad go away. In the case of melanoma, it may kill you.
For more information about skin cancer signs and symptoms visit: skincancer.org
