Sun lovers beware: Gross picture ahead.

[Grandpa Shooter]

Since I have shared with you the reality of getting skin cancer from a lifetime of living in the sun, I thought I would give you a look at what can happen if you don't take proper precautions for being in the sun.  I ignored it even after I had had treatments for scaly patches and one carcinoma.  I now accept too late that I should have been more careful.  I strongly suggest you not go through what I am.  If I can't do it right for myself, maybe I can do some good being the poster boy for stupidity.

Take a good hard look and start protecting yourself now.

[Declaration Day]

Ouch. 

I work outside in the spring / summer / fall, and while I do usually wear sunblock, I usually don't buy any until May.  I've been working for three weeks now.  Buying a tube of the strongest stuff I can find tomorrow.  Thanks for sharing that picture GS, I'm sure it wasn't easy.

[red headed stranger]

Thanks for the reminder.   

My wife, my son, and myself are very fair-skinned and live in AZ.  We keep the Sunblock companies in business. 

[roo_ster]

Thanks for sharing.  That can't have been pleasant.

I used to get tan over the summer in HS/college working outside.

Nowadays, I am a loose long-sleeve shirt over undershirt and wide-brimmed hat (go Tilley!) kinda guy.

Hopefully, I can stave off that sort of thing.

[grampster]

HOLY CRAP!!

[Balog]

Ouch. Hope you recover fast. Is Mrs GS doing the "reading in imitation APSer voices" thing you mentioned?

[Grandpa Shooter]

We got home this afternoon and I hooked up an external monitor to my laptop and boosted the picture.  If I get about 10 inches from the monitor I can read it fairly well.

The cancer they took off the tip of my nose required skin grafting or plastic surgery to correct.  I opted for the plastic surgery so that I don't have a piece of my butt stuck to my face the rest of my life.  He cut up the side of my nose, loosened up the skin and pulled it down to cover the tip.  The picture I posted is after some of the swelling went down and my Lady cleaned up most of the gore.

Basically I am gambling that the year it takes to heal from this will offset the ugly mess it would have been if left to heal on its own, or if a patch graft were done.

Please take exposure to the sun seriously, it can not only scar for life, but kill you if it goes undetected and becomes melanoma.

[AJ Dual]

Redhead, blue eyed devil here.

I avoid the sun like the plague. Probably for the best, I did it because I despise the sensation of being sunburnt, rather than thinking long-term about cancer.

Although, I've collected some major second-degree burns over the years anyway. Last one was in '96 when I was just dating Mrs. Dual and sat in the bleachers with her family for her college graduation commencement. It was only early May, and quite cold, but the whole right side of my face cooked and all the blisters just connected up into one big one.

I figure that the combination of mega-burns, and studiously avoiding the sun puts me into the 50/50 risk category. Hopefully its constant long-term exposure that does it rather than infrequent bad burns.

Thanks for sharing.

I've found with the new spray sunscreens that it's much easier to apply, and gives me less excuse to not cover up.

[Antibubba]

Is that a satellite photo from Google Earth?  It looks like a photo of Russia, somewhere in the Caucasian mountains.

Seriously, I'm with AJ--I've avoided the sun since a trip to Miami Beach left me with second-degree sunburn.  Goth kids give me dirty looks.

[mfree]

Hrmm. I may have screwed up when I was a kid (2-3 second degree sunburns that I can remember) but I'm in no danger of furthering my problem.

In fact, there are long stretches over winter where I never see the sun during the work week. Off to work before dawn, work through the day in a windowless office (windowless floor... basement, actually), get out to go to my second job either at or just after sunset. Rinse, repeat.

There are extremes on both sides. Grandpa, I hope they gave you the "good" pills, and godspeed on a quick and permanent recovery.

[41magsnub]

Ouch, I hope that heals fast.

I'm another super fair skinned guy and go straight from cadaver white to bright red.  There is no tan.  My hunting and fishing buddy is a dermatologist so he makes sure I'm on top of the hat and sun block.  He prefers the Neutrogena SPF 85 stuff.

Edit:  I meant SPF 85  http://www.realself.com/beauty-product/neutrogena-ultra-sheer-dry-touch-sunblock-spf-85

[mtnbkr]

My grandmother, who is very fair skinned and spent a life working outdoors, had pretty significant skin cancer on her nose.  The docs had to remove all flesh down to the cartilage and recover it with grafted skin.  It looked pretty bad while they were doing the work, but the end result was great.  You'd never know she had surgery.  We used to tease her about getting a nose job at her age.

Chris

[Grandpa Shooter]

My grandmother, who is very fair skinned and spent a life working outdoors, had pretty significant skin cancer on her nose.  The docs had to remove all flesh down to the cartilage and recover it with grafted skin.  It looked pretty bad while they were doing the work, but the end result was great.  You'd never know she had surgery.  We used to tease her about getting a nose job at her age.

Chris

Your grandmother is probably my age.  I used to burn continuously when I was a kid and of course back then it was no big deal.  I should have listened to the pros and didn't.  Frankly, my life was such a mess I just didn't care.  Since my Lady has come into my life, I finally feel like something worthwhile is happening.  It is late to start, but I don't intend to do this again.  At first I was going to go hide for a couple of months and then realized something good might as well come out of my story.  When people look at me and then look away, I will engage them and give the same warning I have given here.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR SKIN!  ONCE RUINED, IT IS RUINED FOR LIFE.  DON'T BE STUPID LIKE ME.

That is all.

[AJ Dual]

Ouch, I hope that heals fast.

I'm another super fair skinned guy and go straight from cadaver white to bright red.  There is no tan.  My hunting and fishing buddy is a dermatologist so he makes sure I'm on top of the hat and sun block.  He prefers the Neutrogena SPF 85 stuff.

Edit:  I meant SPF 85  http://www.realself.com/beauty-product/neutrogena-ultra-sheer-dry-touch-sunblock-spf-85

Is one of the active ingrediants the "new stuff" that they've had in Canada/Europe for years, but the FDA was dragging it's heels on approving?

[41magsnub]

Is one of the active ingrediants the "new stuff" that they've had in Canada/Europe for years, but the FDA was dragging it's heels on approving?

No clue, I don't think I used the word "new"

[roo_ster]

My favorite sunblock for years has been Bullfrog.  Nothing else sticks as well.

[Azrael256]

Sunblock users beware!  Sunblock is only partially effective.  It protects against UVB, which is generally accepted to be the cancer-causing ray, but UVA is still energetic enough to cause DNA damage.  Sunblock only provides partial protection from  UVA.  This is why zinc oxide is popular.  The nose is one of the more common places to find skin cancers, and zinc oxide is opaque to everything short of x-rays.

Long sleeved, light clothing and a good sun hat, coupled with quality eye protection is far more effective.