Went to the Dermatologist a few weeks ago for my biannual checkup. I was surprised that he didn't want to cut anything off me to send to the lab. He always has, for the past 15 years or so.
Doc has a sense of humor. I complained that I was expecting to be able to use up my ~$200 in "use it or lose it" Health Savings Account money I had left, which had to be spent before the end of the year. He said...
"Well, lemme see. You do have moderate telangiectasia on your face. Would you like it treated?"
"Sure, what's that?"
"Those ugly spider veins. You have them here, there, and ya know what.... Let me find a bag for the Elephant Man (I wondered how many times he'd used that one, lol). We can clean you up with a simple laser procedure."
He had his assistant come in and explain it. They quoted $250 (not much more than I had left on my HSA card). Other local places I looked at online wanted ~2x that. I scheduled it to be done a few days later.
I'm looking good. I had some really noticeable veins around the edges of my nose, and the areas between my cheeks and ears were covered with them. Doc said that's what I get for living in sunny SoCal, descended from people who lived above the Arctic Circle for 30,000 years.
"Doc said that's what I get for living in sunny SoCal, descended from people who lived above the Arctic Circle for 30,000 years. "
I know what you are talking about except my residence has been west Texas and southeaster NM. I'm scheduled to have another skin cancer removed Friday. My old dermatologist retired a couple of years ago and I told the new one that these cancers were all his fault as I had never had one until I started seeing him. This is the sixth one and I just got the stitches out of the fifth a month ago.
I will have a Melanoma removed this Thursday, my (hopefully) first and only one. It's in a great spot, right above my pacemaker.
Just add it to all the other maladies, RA, Diabetes, Gout, Heart Failure, Hypertension, Sleep Apnea...
Ain't old age grand?
What's that saying here, "It never happened unless there are pictures!". Any before and afters?
Doug
No, I don't post pictures of myself for free anymore. Too many people have lifted pics of me and tried to pass them off as Sean Connery when he was 30. Hard to believe this is a pic of me just last year, right?
I'm scheduled to have another skin cancer removed Friday. My old dermatologist retired a couple of years ago and I told the new one that these cancers were all his fault as I had never had one until I started seeing him. This is the sixth one and I just got the stitches out of the fifth a month ago.
I had Mohs surgery for skin cancer on my cheek about three years ago. I've also had multiple actinic karatoses (pre-cancers) frozen with LN.
I started taking Nicotinamide after the cancer. May just be dumb luck, but I've not had another pre-cancer since...
"The prevention of common skin cancers and precancers is possible by taking an inexpensive, widely available, oral pill twice daily. The pill—the vitamin B3 supplement called nicotinamide—cut the rate of new squamous-cell and basal-cell skin cancers by 23% compared with placebo after 1 year among patients at high risk for skin cancer. Nicotinamide also reduced the risk for developing actinic keratosis, a common precancer of the skin."
"Nicotinamide (vitamin B3) protects from ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced carcinogenesis in mice and from UV-induced immunosuppression in mice and humans. Recent double-blinded randomized controlled Phase 2 studies in heavily sun-damaged individuals have shown that oral nicotinamide significantly reduces premalignant actinic keratoses, and may reduce new non-melanoma skin cancers."
Yep, 86% Scottish, Welsh, Irish, 7% Scandinavian, and 7% Finnish mean my people never should see the sun, unless it is on the horizon!
I ask folks to be patient with me as I'm only half Finnished. Grandparents on Mom's side came over from there in the 20s. Dad's side were a mixture of other translucent-skinned-reindeer-eaters.
Thanks for the link, Vee. I am going to discuss it with my skin guy while he is whittling on me Friday and see what his opinion is. He's very good at what he does. I had MOS on a spot between my left eye and ear. Four cuts before he got it all and I was sliced from the corner of my left eye to my ear and spent 4 1/2 hours getting it done. There is no scar at all now. Had another one on my nose earlier this year. 4 hours in the chair and I have a scar showing still. He told me they could sand my nose smooth if it doesn't disappear on it's own. I told him I would pass on that procedure. All the others have left no scar.
Bob B.
1917
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