Longer Days More Sunshine: Just a Word of Caution

Worked outside many, many years of my life. Always covered my head but, no thought of covering my ears.
November 2015 got a real shocker. Cancer growing on my ear.
'Basal Cell Cancer' Anyway it was just a small spot, it would scab over, and twice I just scratched it off.
Third time it scabbed....family Dr referred me to Eye/Ear/Nose Specialist.
It was cancerous and like a 'spider' had grown large and long.
Bottom line: had half of my ear removed !! You do not want to go through that.
JMO: Use a hat or something that will also cover your ears ....sunscreen
Nasty surprise...
God Bless
Lee

Good advice!

My left ear. No more ball caps.

Man, sorry to hear that. Guess you can also atest to: growth/lump on your ear? Get it checked out !
God Bless
Lee

Both ears last year. Sunscreen early and often.

Sorry you had to find out about this stuff too. One good thing (if there is such a thing) It is slow growing. My letting it go for some months worked against me. Find a spot/get it checked out only advice I can give + wear a hat that will shade your ears as well
I know it looks 'dorky' but, you won't like the alternative
God Bless
Lee

I wear a hat with a brim all the way around to keep sun off my ears and neck. SPF30 or better sunscreen as well. Got plenty of sun as as kid working as a lifeguard. I don't need any more. Back then, I did some stupid stuff...I hope what I am doing now will help avoid the "C" word.

I went to a have my body checked by a specialist 3 years ago after seeing a similar post on here.

Checked a few spots and came back negative. Very thankful for that.

I get checked twice a year

Thank God for hair, everone always kidded me for having so much hair and being a little longer than most,i guess it came in handy after all.

I had surgery to remove Melanoma from my forearm last spring. Take this stuff seriously it will come out of nowhere.

Damm good word of caution. And the effects are cumulative. Thanks to being stupid when I was young, even though everyone warned me, I now take extra-extra care & caution to cover up from head to toe when I'm outdoors. I often get laughs and jeers when I step out of the truck at the ramp but that doesn't matter.

For a great guy like Lee he sure has a lot of [censored] go wrong, not fair old boy! Good advice.

Advice taken! I asked for a fishing full brimmed hat this year for fishing. Seems like a safe idea.

Went through the basal cell myself just over a year ago. Luckily, the basal cell is the least dangerous form of skin cancer, but after eight stitches, it did leave an ugly scar on the back of my neck. I grew up in a time when getting a bad sunburn was just part of being outdoors. Nowadays there are so many sunscreens and clothing items made for sun protection, there's no reason for people to go through this. Protect yourself and go get checked out, folks.

Another word of advice is to make sure your clothes have and SPF rating also. I got a pretty good checkerboard sunburn once because the material did not block the infrared.

What are the symptoms or signs to look for? Im definately going to try to stay more covered up from now on

Nothing on my ears yet, but my face, arms and hands all have or have had skin cancer - caught in the early stages, fortunately. Grew up fishing from a rowboat in the central Texas sunshine, then worked summers as a life guard, followed by many, many hours under the hot sun in bass boats, mostly wearing a baseball cap. As said above, folks - this stuff is real. Please take no chances with skin cancer.

I had a spot on my right shoulder that didn't look like much, but it didn't go away. I mentioned it and another place on my face to my family doctor and was referred to a dermatologist. The place on my shoulder was basal cell cancer. Now I have a scar from 9-10 stitches put there after it was removed in December.

I told the doctor that I almost never go without a shirt in the sun anymore so I wasn't sure why I got skin cancer there. She said it could have come from a bad sunburn when I was a teenager or in college. That's been plenty of years ago...

Well, mine looked like a small red bump that eventually grew and then looked more like a wart ? For lack of a better description.
I made the mistake twice of just scratching it off. When it began to come back, said time to go to the doctor.
Years and years of exposure. Thinking about face/head/arms and almost always wearing a hat or baseball cap with never a thought to ears.
Please don't do the same thing. Something anything like that, see your doctor.
JMO
(really don't want anyone to go through this )

LOL, well for someone who "thought" took care of himself, guess I didn't.
But, in all honesty, the men in my family going back 11 generations have all died before the age of 50. My father died at 47, his brothers 1 at 32 and the other at 50. So the 'genealogy is not exactly real good. All of heart disease/heart attack.
God Bless
Lee

Thanks for the advice Lee in Twxas

I go every 6 months to have myself checked out , been out in the sun a lot of my life , more than most . Already have had spots sent off , all came back negative .

About 2 years ago I had a place on my left cheek that wouldn't heal. Turned out to be basal cell carcinoma (cancer). Had surgery to remove it. Since then,I've gone in every 6 months to get checked. The doctor has frozen some pre-cancerous spots each time. Now he is wanting me to do a complete "face peel" to see if there is cancer under the skin that can't be seen on the surface. I've seen photos of that procedure, and it's pretty gruesome looking. Have any of you had this procedure?

Great reminder, thanks

Good heads up Lee. I have a huge chunk of my nose cut out from cancer. Guys,you who are young just think you are getting away without protection.Look at most of the pro's now. They are wearing all kinds o stuff to protect themselves. Wise up!

My dad had a big place removed from his ear last year and one from his nose. The full brim Columbia hat now stays in the boat all the time. Glad to hear it was caught early.

Anything that changes in shape or color needs to be checked out. Rough patches of skin as well. Crusty spots that bleed if messed with are also an issue to be looked at. I have had three procedures so far, all were caught early and taken care of. Our skin is the largest organ in our body, and no one knows it better than we do, as we are living in it every day. If you even think it might be something, please get checked.

Even with wide brim hat, still wear sunscreen on face, neck and ears.

Sunlight reflecting off the water will get you just as bad.

I actually started wearing one of those silly looking sun hats last year and I will tell you what it not only protects your neck, ears, face more from the sun it is actually a lot cooler wearing it than not wearing it. I was surprised at what a difference it made.

they do look kinda 'dorky'
God Bless
Lee