For those of you who don't know me in real life, you don't know that I have a lot of moles on my body (I would easily say I have over 100). I wasn't born with them, but they all showed up within the first few years of my life. If you look at my profile picture, you can see I have two moles on my left cheek. I am also super pale. Sometimes I joke and say my skin color is alabaster....which probably isn't too much of a stretch ;)
Since I have so many moles and my skin is so fair, I have a more urgent need to visit the dermatologist than most people. Just remember: every skin color should visit the dermatologist regularly, not just fair-skinned people. Today was the first time I went since 2010.....oopsie.
Anyway, I got a full body check, and that made me think about how I feel the need to share some information with you. My blog isn't popular at all (well, the SAU post sure received a lot of attention), but I figure if this at least helps one person, then I did my job :)
A little information about tanning:
I just read this little article about tanning, and it had a great fact: if someone uses a tanning bed, that person is at least 74% more likely to get melanoma. This article (from the same website) has even scarier information: melanoma has grown by 800% in the last 40 years for women, and 400% in the last 40 years for men.
It makes me really sad to see people posting about going to tanning beds. People are so concerned with how the world thinks they should look, that they don't care what they're doing to their bodies. I never have, nor will I ever, use a tanning bed. Not only does it increase the risk for skin cancer, it makes your skin wrinkle so much faster than it normally would. I certainly don't look 26, and I don't want to any time soon ;)
I posted this article on Facebook the other day. Here are the 7 things this article listed that people are doing incorrectly:
- Tanning in the first place
- Going to a tanning salon
- Getting a base tan to 'protect' you when you go out in the sun
- Not reapplying sunscreen
- Not being thorough enough with spray-on sunscreen
- Thinking that sunscreen is waterproof
- Not getting a suspicious mole checked out
I think most people think sunscreen is just to prevent a sunburn, so they don't wear any if they don't burn easily. While it does help prevent burns, it also helps prevent so much more.
A little information about moles:
Here is a PDF of a body mole map. I was going to scan the bookmark I received today, but this is even better. Click that link and check yourself! Here is a PDF specifically for detecting skin cancer.
There is also a quiz that you should take. It has so much good information. I got 100%, thank you very much ;) haha. To be fair, I have done a lot of research on this before.
My dermatologist recommended that I wear at least SPF 15 in the winter, and at least SPF 30 the rest of the year (SPF 30 year round if I ever leave Michigan). I just wanted to pass that information to you, so you can be safe too.
Please be careful with your skin. Is the insanely high risk of skin cancer worth that tan? Not in my book. I will take being this fair-skinned forever, over getting a tan for now and getting cancer later in life. Also, watch your moles (if you have them). Having a cancer scare is terrible, and no one should ever have to experience that.
If you have any questions, I will gladly answer them to the best of my ability, or direct you to another website!! :)
XOXO
Jen
