Thread: Get those skin spots checked people

A timely reminder as the weather starts to warm up. Thanks Pete. I too have had a friend that worked outside all his life - with a local council, and it too turned out badly for him.

I agree. Get anything that even looks suspect checked. Both my wife & I are living with the hell that the damage causes. In our youth it was fun in the sun, but not any more.

Mrs Road is only 30 and about 18mths ago had a skin cancer the size of a pea cut out of the side of her face. She recently had the doctors tell her a few more spots were looking to go cancerous but do you think we could get them to act!!

She is of course fair skinned and covered in freckles but spends next to no time in the sun. Our daughter is worse with red hair and freckles so we need to be extra careful with her.

Thanks Pete,

I read your thread before xmas and ummmed and arrrred (what's new).

Similar story with me, too much unprotected sun in the 70's and 80's.
(Geez we did everything without protection back then)

Finally I decided that moley thing on the back of my leg needed an experts opinion.

Dr said it was only a mole and froze it off. Nothing to worry about.

Well, all you Aussie blokes like me, that tend to sit on things (and hate Doctors surgeries); get off your arse and do something about it.

The relief of having someone tell me there is nothing wrong, easily outweighs the stuffing up of my afternoon.

Paul

Father-in-Law had a melanoma cut from the back of his knee some years ago. Funny thing is, he'd only worn shorts in submarines, and long strides at all other times. His outdoor 'uniform' is still white T-shirt and black slacks.

I had an ancient ex-miner at my previous work who'd worked day-shift all his life. He had the sort of white skin that women would kill for, yet he'd had a cancerous mole cut from his back. He assured us that several of his colleagues had been afflicted, despite 'zero' sun-exposure. Literally...

Which goes to show all you complacent b*****s that anyone can score them!

Message is clear, Don't trust any odD freckle or spot...

Yep, had one cut out a couple of months ago and i am going back for another this week.

Originally Posted by superquag

Father-in-Law had a melanoma cut from the back of his knee some years ago. Funny thing is, he'd only worn shorts in submarines, and long strides at all other times. His outdoor 'uniform' is still white T-shirt and black slacks.

I had an ancient ex-miner at my previous work who'd worked day-shift all his life. He had the sort of white skin that women would kill for, yet he'd had a cancerous mole cut from his back. He assured us that several of his colleagues had been afflicted, despite 'zero' sun-exposure. Literally...

Which goes to show all you complacent b*****s that anyone can score them!

Message is clear, Don't trust any odD freckle or spot...

Melanoma is a different beast to your run of the mill sun exposure cancers (carcinomas). Yes sun burn (particularly while young) is a very real risk factor yet regular non burn sun exposure seems to have some protective effect against melanoma. At the same time the accumulation of sun exposure is the main risk for carcinomas so a balanced approach is required. All this depends on your genetic skin type too. Hence the observation that melanoma is more frequent in bankers than farmers. Also melanoma can start even where the sun don't shine but that is uncommon. Your x-miner may have had sun burn on his back, as a child, as his risk rather than his occupation.

The good news is that Australia has some of the best survival rates from melanoma because of our culture of awareness to get them early but the bad news is that we also have some of the highest rates in the world of diagnosis.

So don't let your kids get burnt. Don't be too afraid of the sun but nothing harsh. And yes get those spots checked. The vast majority of dark spots are not melanoma but of vast importance to pick the one that is.

As a blond fair skinned English bloke living here in Aus (nearly 3 years now) I know next to nothing about this subject, other than slap the cream on and don't get burnt.

I do have lots of brown freckly things, most of which I've had all my life, I do note though that I'm getting more of them whilst I'm here, but thats maybe an age thing??? None of which look nasty to me but like I say, I'm not sure I'd know a nasty from a goody!

So, after reading previous posts of caution, where do I go to get checked, local GP or some specialist?

Thanks
Jon

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