Do you do sunscreen?

I grew up when being in the sun all day was a given and the word “sunscreen” hadn’t even been coined yet. Over the years I began wearing sun blocking clothing if I was going to get any major league exposure and on occasion I’d juice up with sunscreen on the areas clothes didn’t cover. I found out yesterday how much more protection I should have used against sun exposure and I also found out yesterday that the small spot [compared to what the picture shows] was probably rooted over fifty years ago.
I really don’t want any of ya’ll to have to spend 5 hours getting lidocaine injections and a surgeon cutting away at your face to get to the end of something you cannot even see, like I did. And yes, this procedure did get into facial/eye control, muscles and nerves so its more than just cosmetic.

I’ll be using spf100 sunscreen from now on but I think the damage has been done. I’d urge anyone who doesn’t use sunscreen to start and do so religiously all year since even winter sun can be bad. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for your wife/sig other, kids, grandkids, and parent/grandparents. I never imagined being carved like this. I know a lot of you use/wear the sun blocking clothes and also lotion up with the sunscreen products. Keep it up! For those who don’t protect themselves, give some serious thought to starting.

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Sorry to hear you had to go through all that Mr. Sawvell, but what a good thing to do by spreading the word and hopefully helping out others, especially since the target audience of this site likely spends countless hours in the sun fishing.

It’s a great message, I try and do my best with sunscreen but I definitely need to improve. Thank you for taking the time to communicate the importance.

Tom,
I hope you recover quickly and continue to have the opportunity to catch the fall crappies.
When we were young, I never even heard of sunscreen, they had sun tan lotion to help you tan quicker. I would spend every day of the summer outside and by mid summer my brown hair would be blonde and my skin dark as heck. We did not know any better back then.
I started using sunscreen many years ago, but do not use it as I should. If fishing in the morning and plan on being off the water by 10:30, I usually do not.
Thank you for sharing and hope everyone learns from this. Take care.

Ouch, terrible news. My father gets injections and acid peels about every month now. He has also had a few spots removed, like you’re experiencing. I thought he was crazy the first time I saw him wake up in a sleeper house on URL and spray on some sunscreen so he could hole hop outside.

After seeing what he deals with on a daily basis, I use sunscreen every single time I’m out for an extended period of time. I end the summer looking like I spent all my days sitting in my basement with the shades down, but I minimize future issues. Not my fault I was cursed with pale skin and slight red hair, but I make the best of it! Praying for a speedy healing.

Let’s be honest though, you’ll probably never get messed with in a bar now, that’s a bada$$ scar.

Hope it heals up good for ya and get back on some fishin!

Ouch Tom!!

Fishing at night I never concerned myself with sunscreen. This last summer I fished during the day and used it when I remembered.

I just read an article someplace about most of the sunscreen/block that’s on the market fails to live up to it’s SPF label. It recommended SPF of 100 by a reputable company.

With people living longer, we’ll see more of the suns negative effects.

Heal up big guy! Hope they got it all!

Here’s hoping you have a speedy recovery!

I only do consistently if I dont have a tan (spring) and/or plan to be in a boat all day.
Like most people I like to have a tan in the summer. No occurrences of skin cancer in my family history and I live just like them. I know its different for everyone.

It sounds like we are all pretty much alike – NO sunscreen as we grew up. I too, like Tom, have had some things cut off as I age. One thing I learned from my DIL that works at a skin cancer treatment center where they remove the cancer one cell at a time, is that your skin is ONE big organ – any exposure to sun can affect your whole body. EVERYONE needs to take heed to this. DIL cuts off cancer to parts of the body you don’t want to have things cut from (I have seen some horrible photos). Just don’t take the risk and be sure to cover up and just sunscreen on those areas you don’t cover. Sun exposure continues to build up in your system over your life, so those of us that were exposed when we were younger still have it stored up and more exposure can just make it worse. Take care Tom, and thanks for the warning.

Ahhh! Sorry to hear about this Tom. Take care.

SR (Another night stalker)

Oh Tom, I’m so sorry to hear that you have to go through this. I hope it heals well and doesn’t interfere too much with your muscles and movements. Thanks for taking the time to spread the word about the importance of sun safety. It’s a message I try to promote as well. Being a very fair-skinned gal I wear sunscreen daily, year-round, and even cover up with hats, bandanas, and long sleeves as tolerable. I’m as white as a sheet of paper and proud of it! We were out pheasant hunting for opener last weekend and you can bet I was wearing sunscreen!

I to am going down to Park Nicollet in St Louis Park Mn. to get carved on my face also. Melanoma, small surface spot. Had a basil cell carved out last March, went in for a 6 month check up and they found this spot just under my eye. I am 69, as a kid we ran around outside with no protection, older thinking I was some kind of a beach bum I laid out in the sun, and most of my life spent cooking in the sun out in the boat. Well now I am paying the price, have been using sunscreen and a big hat for only the last 5 years. Next year uv shirts and hats and sunscreen and maybe a face scarf. Tomorrow 7:30 am carve time. Others out there, remember it can happen here in Mn.

Sorry to hear this Tom but again your advice is always great on IDO. Know all about this as I had a Melanoma removed from my arm 9 years ago this week. Have had 6 other spots removed that were benign since then. I’m like everyone else. Didn’t need sunscreen as a youngster as I am dark complected. I now wear sun protecting clothing ALL the time when I’m on the water. Long sleeves,long pants, gloves with fingertips removed, hat with flap on the back, and sunscreen on my face and ears. Get a complete skin check yearly now. My derm Doctor told me to use Bullfrog pump sunscreen. Only place I can find it is online. Local stores carry it only in creams and aerosol.
Hope you are on the mend and this is the last of your cancer going forward.

Hoping the best for you Shefland. I have a prayer for you,

I can see a tiny sliver of light from the eye now but it matters up so fast that its more of an illusion. Tomorrow will be better. Last night and this morning….I wouldn’t have wished on anyone.

I had a great surgeon and he says with a little time the cut will be barely noticeable. Right now when I look in the mirror [mostly because I still can’t believe this has happened] I just shake my head.

Thanks for the well wishes all of you.

Tom, Dave, something a lot of us old white guys have in common…skin cancer. I went in for a lesion on top of my head, the dermatologist said not good basal cell…we’ll get rid of it. While I was sitting there he noticed a spot on my neck and said well now that looks worse. Turned out to be melanoma. Cut the chunk out of my head and went back later for my neck. A spot about the size of a quarter and the incision to remove it ran from my hairline in back all the way around to the front.
Tom, right afterwards the wounded area I had looked pretty much like yours except it was on my neck.
Here is a picture a year later, maybe not the best picture but you can get an idea how it healed up.
BTW, I have another lesion on my head again and will be returning in a couple weeks for more “carving”…

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Speedy recovery, Tom

Well got her done,1 carving session,got it all,30 stitches now time to be proactive

That sucks Tom.
Hoping you come out with a clean bill of health after all that.
I’m curious why they didn’t shave those areas that were cut? It looks like the cuts go right thru ur eye brows and beard.
Dunno but seems a bit strange to me.
Anyhow, praying for you and Shef !

best wishes to both ya. heal up fast!!!!!!!!!

haleysgold wrote:

That sucks Tom.
I’m curious why they didn’t shave those areas that were cut? It looks like the cuts go right thru ur eye brows and beard.

LOL….you know me Brian, I don’t like shaving at all. Actually some of the skin was pulled forward off my jaw line to make up for a huge hole that the cutting made. They had talked of taking hide off my shoulder but after some yick-yack between my surgeon and another plastics guy it was decided to pull the skin forward hair and all. When I do shave now it will include some new territory.

I’m off the pain pills. Actually took three in the first 24 hours then went to nothing but Tylenol. This narcotic stuff scares me so when I say I take any at all, I am hurting. All in all the pain is pretty much only there if I stretch the hide…/yawning and sneezing have me seeing stars and cussing a bit. The swelling has begun to let up and today I have a slit that allows about 10% of my normal scope of vision from that eye. Its nice to see daylight in stero again. The eye itself is full of blood, fitting for October 31 I guess. No need to buy a costume this year is a big plus too.

I’d go back for open-guy gall=bladder surgery again in lieu of this surgery in a minute, now that I have this to compare it to.

I’m hoping these “phantom” feelings go away soon. All over the entire surface of this mess it feels like I have small streams of water running down the side of my face. I go to wipe it away and there’s nothing there. The eye is really bothered by the swelling and tears all the time. I’m staying positive though.

And Andy, I have a prayer out for you. This stuff is insidious.

Prayers your way for a speedy recovery Tom. You can whoop this, take care bud.

After having a cancery looking spot removed from one of my ears after 20 years of playing baseball with no sun screen, I figured I’d better start protecting myself. That small scare was enough of one to make me rethink things.

Hope you recover well Tom. Good on you for staying clear of the narcotics as best you can. Being in the medical field I see too many people fall victim to those pills, but that’s another can of worms. Best of luck.

Tom,
Hope you have a speedy recovery. That “c” word is scary stuff. Keep your attitude positive and you’ll be fishing again before you know it. God’s speed my friend

Hope you are doing better Tom, here is a pic of my face, showed smaller then a dime on the surface 30 stitches later and hopefully all gone. Will remember this and your experience and take xtra care from here on. Good Luck

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Lotsa unfortunate melanoma stories around here and I hope everyone is doing better with nothing reoccurring. I’ve mentioned it before but my girlfriend is a melanoma nurse and has told me many much much worse stories. From what I have learned even if the cancer is only skin deep the surgeon will still go 3+centimeters deep and out to be sure it has all been removed. So a tiny freckle sized spot will turn into a big scar.

Best of luck to everyone, and threads like this are great reminders to keep up on your sunscreen and stay covered.

shefland wrote:

Hope you are doing better Tom, here is a pic of my face, showed smaller then a dime on the surface 30 stitches later and hopefully all gone. Will remember this and your experience and take xtra care from here on. Good Luck

They do like to cut.

Today the sutures came out and I got the news I prayed for: the cancer was gotten out totally. What a relief. It was a squamous cell cancer, a very aggressive and invasive growing one that migrates in a hurry. The scarring is hopefully going to be minimal, but I will have some beard and eye brow growth in places it doesn’t belong due to the way the facial ski has been moved around to cover the restructured area. The nerve that was thought to be cut during the surgery was not and I have full eye brow and eye lid motion range so that too is a relief…..now I don’t have to buy a Bassett Hound to look like its master. lol

Now its on to keeping this area doused with sunscreen using a regular regime and getting used to long sleeved shirts even during the summer heat. Of course head wear is going to get addressed with a good wide brim hat and I can always use more caps.

This has been a great day for me.

That’s great news, Tom. Wishing speedy recoveries to both you and Dave.

Great news indeed Tom. I’ve always wore a straw wide brimmed hat out fishing, and really never cared if I looked like a hillbilly or dork. Running to different spots I just put my hat on the floor and step on the brim so it don’t fly out. I find that it also helps keeps the bugs away especially if I lightly spray it with Bug-uns. I’m so glad your day was a great one.

Thanks everyone. The news today did make it a dandy day.

I have the broad brimmed hats and wear them when out working in the yard and have been know to wear them fishing too but more likely to wear a cap in the boat. Re-thinking the boat wear big time. I’ll be shopping for some of the breathable, sun-blocking shirts now when the are on sale around here.

The insidious part of this stuff is that for people my age the exposure done years and years ago is what does the damage today. We never heard of skin cancer and coppertone was something oily you smeared on to get with the crowd, not to block the sun’s uv rays from cooking you from the inside. Being declared free of this particular spot is super, but now I wonder how many more of these will pop up before I croak. Trying hard to stay positive now yet this stuff nags at the back of your mind.