Guys, wear your sunscreen!!!
 

I’m a guy who admittedly does not care for my skin properly. In that I mean, living in the Sunshine State and not putting sunscreen on religiously.

I like the sun and play golf and outdoor stuff wearing a baseball cap. Sometimes on the terrace catching rays. And seldom using SPF 30 stuff. I admit it.

It caught up with me. For about 2 months I’ve had itchy, scaly, red, bumpy nose. Oh oh. Finally went to a Derm PA today and have pre cancerous stuff in my nose. She sprayed heavy doses of freezing spray until she was satisfied. The next couple weeks the skin will peel off and new fresh, hopefully clean, will grow in its place. She will check in 2 months to confirm. Fingers crossed.

I’m writing this for you guys out there who, like me, may be too much in a hurry or don’t care to put on skin care SPF sunscreen. I hope to be better now after this scare.

Big FYI!

Enjoy having skin checks every 3-6 months for the next year. Once you get one, the risk of getting more increases. Melanoma is even worse - you get surgery, you have to have someone change your bandages if you can't reach them yourself for 10 days, you go back to get the stitches out, and another 4-6 months waiting for it to completely heal. Meanwhile you're going back to the Dermatologist every 3 months, for the next two years. If no more melanomas, you only have to go once a year.

I've had two melanomas, one basal cell carcinoma, and three severe aplastic nevums (pre-cancerous skin that will become a melanoma if I don't do anything about it now). All this in the past three years.

And all because I was raised on baby oil and iodine at the beach, over 50 years ago.

Another melanoma survivor here. Lotion up big time. I swim laps every day for an hour and a half and golf every other day on average. Blue Lizzard mineral sunscreen is the best. Blue Lizzard sheer mineral SPF 50 face sunscreen is the best, no chemicals or fragrances added so it won’t sting your eyes when it inevitably gets in the swim goggles. Swimming backstroke in the intense Florida sun is absolutely brutal. Unfortunately, the only thing worse is NOT swimming.

I coat with 50 every morning.

I experienced a melanoma several years ago probably due to spending a lot of time at swimming pools while growing up and lifeguarding during the summers of my college years, all a mile above sea level in the Southwest desert. Had a couple squamous cell carcinomas, too.

I have been a SoCal, work and play outdoors guy my entire life. My dad (genetics) had some melanoma. I go every 6 months religiously for the last decade or two. Almost every time I get 1-4 things frozen off with the carbon dioxide oil can.

Over my lifetime, I've had them cut off, cut out, burnt, frozen, electricity-removed, and every other which way. I even had a basal cell MOHS'd off from the crease of my eye socket along my nose back in 2000.

I still don't apply sunscreen on the daily, but if I'm going to be out working or playing in the sun all day, or boating, jet skiing, or lake floating, I will apply it to my face and hands, but I wear a big floppy jungle hat, good quality sunglasses (Oakley), and an SPF water shirt (long-sleeved).

From the OP.
About a year ago I went for my first-ever skin check by a Derm Doctor. Right away he said “well I’m not gonna man’s any money off you!”, joking. He was right. I’m a lucky guy with no moles, marks etc. Perhaps why I might have been cocky thinking… I’m safe. Nope.
So my post is meant to be a caution to guys like me. Better safe than sorry. And now, hopefully after my nose skin rebounds it will be more sensitive to recurring.

The best way to avoid skin (and other) cancer and damage is to have sufficient high quality antioxidants in your body. Antioxidants neutralize free radical damage, whether from the sun, or any other cause. It's why we have taken USANA - bravo.usana.com - for over 22 years, like many Olympic, elite, and professional athletes, and informed healthcare professionals. We always wear hats while in the sun, as an added source of protection and for comfort, but USANA's antioxidants and science-based skincare with sun protection, rather than applying 'who knows what' chemicals (which are absorbed into the body) in sunscreen products to our skin has kept us skin lesion-free, sunburn free, and healthy. We do not sunburn. I also follow Dr. Steven Gundry's lectin-free dietary advice.
Your skin is just part of your body. Take care of your whole body, and your skin will also be okay.
I forget who the famous person was who said it, but my needs are simple -- I simply want the best.
And, I believe in science.

The safest sun screens use zinc and titanium dioxide. Banana boat sells them

Are sunscreens dangerous?
 

I use Coppertone Pure & Simple Baby SPF50 sunscreen on my face and exposed parts of my body every morning. It’s 100% mineral (Zinc Oxide). If I stay indoors all day, I put on Australian Gold Botanical SPF30 with or without a beige tint. It has both Zinc and Titanium Oxide, so it leaves less of a white cast. They have no benzene and/or benzophenone, according to ConsumerLab.

Blue Lizard and Pipette are also good brands. For special occasions, I wear chemical sunscreen, which leaves no visible cast.

Are sunscreens dangerous? Yes - if you inhale or eat a whole tube in one day. The doze makes the poison - Too much oxygen will kill you. More than 2 people die of skin cancer in the US every hour. I have not heard of a single death from using sunscreen.

But what do I know… I only worked in cancer research for decades :) There’s no excuse for not wearing sunscreen in Florida. Just do it. It pains me to see so many of my friends and neighbors getting diagnosed with melanoma and other skin cancers every year.

I am convenience the sun rays are at different angle down here and makes it worse?

I also think Lots of those people diagnosed damage was done over years. Like me that had to work out in sun for 40 plus years mainly in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Nebraska. I use sun screen and can only stand to be out in sun when it’s high in sky for about hour. I feel my skin baking that exposed. Mainly on neck, sides of face and nose.

Ditch the ball cap and get something that shades your ears. Actinic Keratosis on the top of an ear is really annoying.

So, so true! And a ball cap does not shade your nose enough either.

Ladies & men, ditch the sun visors too. The top of your head doesn’t have enough hair to protect your scalp from the FL sun

Closer to the equator