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Long-ago burns take their toll WHAT TO KNOW
Those long-ago sunburns take their toll
Date published: 11/18/2007
WHEN I WAS a boy, my family would go to places such as Chimsee, Bavaria's largest lake, and Spain's Mediterranean coast.
My dad was stationed with the Army in Germany and we used to travel to exotic places, often beaches. I used to love the trips, except for the fact that I knew I'd get sunburned. Unlike my brother, who tans easily, I was born with fair skin--blue eyes, a pale complexion and red hair.
All summer, I had to wear a hat and T-shirt, but still I'd get lobster-red. Sunscreen wouldn't be available until I was in my early 20s. So I'd slather on coconut oil, which probably made the burn worse.
Sometimes I'd get blisters, and to this day the smell of Noxema cream takes me back to nights lying awake in sunburn hell.
Flash forward to September of this year. At age 54, I was becoming increasingly aware of red, scaly blotches on my face. These were not freckles and were slightly painful to the touch.
About 10 years ago I had had a few of them frozen during an in-office procedure at a local dermatologist's. This after I had been using sunscreen faithfully for years.
When I arrived for my appointment at The Dermatology Center on Princess Anne Street, I was expecting a similar routine.
But Michael Sabol, a physician's assistant, took one look at my face and said there were too many actinic keratoses--areas of precancerous cells--to remove by freezing with a liquid-nitrogen applicator.
"It would be like putting out a forest fire with a squirt gun," he said.
The best solution would be a course of treatment with an ointment containing Fluorouracil, which targets rapidly dividing abnormal and precancerous cells. It could be used over a large area.
I'd use it for two weeks, then return for a checkup. He warned me that affected areas on my face--even spots that weren't visible yet--would flare up while the ointment did its work.
These flare-ups keep some people from trying the cream, even though not trying it can make them the one person out of every 59 who will develop melanoma during the span of a lifetime.
Basal- and squamous-cell skin cancers are the most common types. Basal cells are small, round cells in the base of the outer skin. Squamous cells are flat cells on the surface. When cancer forms in pigment cells, it's called melanoma.
The American Academy of Dermatologists recommends the following to prevent skin cancer:
Avoid deliberate tanning. Ultraviolet light from the sun and tanning beds causes skin cancer and wrinkling. Try a sunless self-tanning product instead. Wear sunscreen.
Get vitamin D through a healthy diet that includes vitamin supplements. Don't seek it from the sun.
Cover up when you must be in the sun. Wear long sleeves, pants, a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses that protect against both UVA and UVB rays.
Use extra caution near water, snow and sand. These reflect damaging rays of the sun, which can increase your chances of sunburn.
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Date published: 11/18/2007
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