I'm surprised that you only get checked annually. I have never had skin cancer, but I get checked every 6 months.

Had a full-body check 6 months ago by Derm doctor - totally clear. But the nose thing cropped up on me. Will be more careful with sunscreen etc now... FYI to all you guys...

Spent years on the ocean working aboard ships, spent days outside all day no shirt in the tropics, followed with racing sailboats all day on the salt water, staring into the sun looking for changes in the wind patterns. .

I get annual skin checks AND have watch for growing CATARACTS, which I first noticed while on my first ship coming back from Chile. . . UV light and very short wavelength light are known damagers of corneas. .

My twilight night vision is noticably worse, and so driving at night takes a lot more concentration. Just found the drive on the Garden State on the way down here much more difficult between background lights, oncoming lights, and worn lane markings.

Wow! I think that you are proof enough! no need for any scientific evidence at all! Congratulations. .

I can't express in only a few words how profoundly incorrect this advice is.

There is nothing you can INGEST that will protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays. Nothing, zilch, nada. And in fact, if you were to make a paste of those anti-oxidants, and rub them into your skin, they STILL won't protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays.

The only way to protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays, is to keep your skin away from the sun's damaging rays. Whether that's long-sleeve shirts and long pants with socks and gloves and a face-covering and a hat, or slathering sunscreen on all exposed skin, or never leaving your house and never sitting near the window when the sun is shining through it - then that's what it means.

Your skin is not part of your digestive system, and it is the only organ that exists exclusively on the outside of your body. A sun TAN is sun damage. That is what happens, when you get a tan. You have basically baked your skin, damaging it. Damaged skin increases the risk of skin cancer. You don't have to EVER burn, to get skin cancer.

Furthermore, USANA is a MLM with a dubious history and multiple lawsuits. The average "associate" (someone who sells product for an MLM as an independent contractor) earns less than $1000/year - even though they are shown misleading statements and documentation implying that they can become wealthy by quitting their day-jobs and peddling these pills instead.

That was my first experience of skin cancer. Foolishly ignored it for almost a year and ended up losing the top 10% of my ear. Now auditioning for the next Hobbit movie.

I now always wear a peaked white hat that covers ears and back of neck, with sunscreen on the nose and other exposed facial areas.

Be aware, though, that a lot of the damage is already done (from earlier "ignorance") so, whatever precautions you take now, you may still suffer from skin cancer making an appearance as you age.

Also, because your skin is a SINGLE organ and not a bunch of organs on each limb, torso, etc -

You can get skin cancer ANYWHERE on your body, even in spots that haven't ever seen the sun. A sunburn increases the risk of skin cancer. It doesn't guarantee skin cancer. But - if you get a sunburn on your arm, you increase the risk of skin cancer on the instep of your foot. Because - it's all one organ.

Correct, it can even show up under what used to be your thumbnail. Be careful out there. Had to take that picture by touching my nose to the iPad.

Amen, brother, amen!

Yes, Bob Marley, for example, under toe nail melanoma at age 36, killed him.

Subungual melanoma killed the great Bob Marley, very nasty stuff. Same thing I had under my thumbnail. Would’ve eventually killed me if not totally removed with good margins. I didn’t screw around, went straight to a melanoma specialist at Massachusetts General. The clowns in western Massachusetts wanted to send me to an orthopedic surgeon to have my thumb amputated. Glad I went to the best, it took her two tries, but she got it all and confirmed it hadn’t spread with a sentinel lymph node biopsy. You can’t beat Mass General.

Mass General is great for non-emergency stuff. Maybe their ER has improved since I had to go there. I lived a half dozen blocks away, on Charles Street, when I came down with a really scary fit of deep wet lung-coughing, congestion, sweats, clammy skin, and difficulty breathing. It was winter and I had to walk all the way down, they did the intake paperwork and stuck me in a partitioned area behind a curtain on an exam table. After a half hour of just sitting there, I opened the curtain and asked what was going on, and they said they'd forgotten I was there. Twenty minutes later a doctor finally showed up, heard my breathing, said I had bronchitis and to go home and rest and drink water. No x-rays, no throat culture, no nuttin.

Got to the school doctor two days later and was diagnosed with walking pneumonia and said I should've gone to the hospital. I was given home-quarantine for the rest of the week, some prescription meds for the symptoms, and then I was able to go back to classes.

For those who hate lathering and slathering, i wear long sleeve very light synthetic shirts, it accomplishes blocking the sun without all the grease. . most from Reel Legends. . under golf shirts, when outside walking, etc. .

works just as well. .

got to the school dr.... so what are we talking about, being seen at Mass General 35-40 years ago?

Yes. Massachusetts has been having trouble with hospitals recently though, after thee Steward Health Care fiasco that caused the death of a new mother at St. Liz's in Brighton. Many patients of six different area hospitals had to get their care somewhere else, because Steward hospitals weren't authorized to pay vendor bills and Steward stopped paying them. So vendors (including agency-contracted nursing staff) stopped supplying those hospitals, leaving them without supplies, staff, or any way to acquire them. St. Liz has a new name but it was St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Everyone just called it St. Liz.

In any case - the Steward situation had been going on for years during the 2000's and they finally had to give St. Liz's over to BMG when the state took it through eminent domain. That happened only a year ago and the Boston hospitals are still recovering from the debacle.