Rant #3,056: Skin Deep

Hello, I am back!

Yesterday I had an early doctor’s appointment—at 7a.m., believe it or not—so I figured it was a good day to take some time off from this blog.

I had to go to the dermatologist—who I like to call the “skin doctor” because not only does he take care of my skin, but it costs a lot of “skin” to get treated there—and I go there about once every six months or so.

I go there because I am one of those people who are prone to skin tags, and while most of them are nothing to worry about, the doctor has removed some pre-cancerous growths on my body.

If you have ever gone to a skin doctor, you know the procedure.

The doctor asks you if anything is bothering you—meaning do you have any new growths on your body—and after he tends to those things you tell him about, then he investigates himself.

For me, I get these growths on my head and my face—although I have had them in other places—so he looks at those places first, and when he sees something that needs taking care of, he sprays this stuff on the affected area that freezes the area so it can better eventually be eradicated.

The spray doesn’t hurt, but it does sting plenty … and yesterday, the doctor was spraying so much on my head that I really had to close my eyes and cringe a little bit.

And yesterday, the doctor found two areas that needed to be removed and sent out to see if they are anything more than just skin tags.

One was on my left cheek, and one was just below my Adam’s Apple on my upper chest.

The removal of these things stings a little bit, and for the next two weeks, I have to use ointment and Band Aids to help these areas heal.

It has been my experience that sometimes they heal where you would never know that they were there, and sometimes they heal and you can clearly see something was there.

I am hoping for the former, of course, but the doctor had to dig deep to get them off of me, so I am sure I will have a few scars left in these areas—but no further growths.

More importantly, I am hoping that neither of these things he took off of me were cancerous, although like I said, I have had a few pre-cancers removed from my skin, with the most recent being in I think 2021.

Skin cancer is the most treatable of cancers, and if you have any new growths on your body that don’t belong there, I would get them checked.

Remember, your skin is an organ, the largest organ in your body, and like other organs, things can go awry, probably not of your own doing, unless you sit out in the sun and burn yourself to a insipid glow.

Just recently, our First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, had a few cancerous growths removed from her skin, including one over her eye.

The one over the eye is most concerning, because its placement can affect the optic nerve.

So I guess you can say that if it can happen to our First Lady, it can happen to anyone.

Both of my parents had growths removed from their skin and with my mother, she actually had growths that were cancerous.

I believe that the cancerous growths were on her legs, but I honestly don’t remember, because she had them removed several years ago. My father also had several growths removed, but none were cancerous—and I think they were on his legs too.

In the past, I have had some growths removed on different parts of my body, including my thighs, but the only pre-cancerous ones that I have had removed were on my face and on my scalp.

I would suggest everyone to have these growths—including moles—looked at by a dermatologist, because you don’t know what is there until they are looked at and analyzed.

I guess it is easy for me to say because I am prone to them—I think I had my first of these things removed probably 20 or 30 years ago—but really, they don’t belong on your skin and you should have them checked out.

And the removal part only stings for a moment, and then, you are pretty much done with it.

I complain about the costs of doing this—even with insurance—but honestly, I would rather pay the money than be walking around with cancerous lesions on my body.

I have enough problems without having to worry about that, too.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak you again on Monday.