Oh, yeah, I remember well the dermatologist saying, "Severe sun damage" on my ears. That was jarring. From then on it was heavy use of sun screen before I walked out the door, applied again at noon, and for the past several years I've used a Sunday Afternoon Adventure hat for maximum sun protection on my neck and ears. Just a broad brimmed hat won't do it, and a baseball cap is useless.
This post is perfectly timed. I'm bald headed and fair skinned to boot. I don't like hats but I've started wearing them. I usually am good about using sun screen but sometimes I get burned in the spring before remember to protect myself. Not good...
Gregg
Mark Mayer, post: 422625, member: 424 wrote: Remember that it is not just your face you need to protect. Ears, neck, arms, hands. All of it. I wear long pants, long sleeved collared shirts and a wide brimmed hat year around. I don't go for sunscreen except on the hottest summer days. It's this time of year, with cool but sunny days, that seem to catch me unawares most.
And the long sleeved dress shirt gets a different reaction from a land owner than flip flops and a tank top.
The jury is still out on whether using sunscreen actually prevents skin cancers. No question that it prevents sunburns. But if you read the disclaimers on the tubes, let alone the mass of stuff on the internet, well, you learn that they are not a substitute for physical barriers.
Straw hat, bandana do rag, kerchief, goggles and frogg toggs towel.
I also really like those Columbia long sleeved fishing shirts. Nice and thin but they have great coverage.
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whitey1371, post: 422656, member: 10111 wrote: I also really like those Columbia long sleeved fishing shirts. Nice and thin but they have great coverage.
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I have several white ones that are my favorite motorsickle riding shirts. The shoulder yokes are vented and keep me cool. Whatever material they are made of dries quickly. I have been known to work in them, too..but that's not as much fun as dodging bugs at 70 mph.
These look alike nice shirts for the field...
https://www.hivissupply.com/gss-safety-7505-7506-ansi-class-3-performance-utility-shirt.html
N10,000, E7,000, Z100.00
PLS - IL, MO, AR, KS, MN, KY
whitey1371, post: 422656, member: 10111 wrote: I also really like those Columbia long sleeved fishing shirts. Nice and thin but they have great coverage.
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My wife bought me one for Christmas and now I've gone back to get two more. Very comfortable, even here in the humid South.
Andy
I had my left eye sewed shut for two months due to a basal cell being removed from my bottom eyelid. That was 19 years ago. I had asked my family doctor about it at one time and he said it was just scar tissue from a stye. Later, my eye doctor told me different. It would have been an easy surgery if it had been caught earlier. I still have a V in my lower eyelid. I also go to a Dermatologist twice a year and several other scars from basal cells since then.
James
A somewhat humorous note on a rather serious subject, in Hawaii people will often comment on how youthful our Alaskan skin appears compares to the year round Caucasian residents, whose skin more closely resembles 'tanned' leather.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I always wear a wide soft-brim hat, Sunscreen on the nose and beard to protect the cheeks. Also sunscreen the back of my hands, they get burnt pretty easily too.
Sun safety is drilled into Queenslanders pretty much from birth. We're still the highest for recorded skin cancer treatments.
Cover up where possible, cream up where otherwise. Zink is a good barrier as well.
paden cash, post: 422637, member: 20 wrote: If your dermatologist doesn't have you strip nekkid for an exam, he's not doing it right, 😉
Or SHE, it seems it is all females, mostly young and attractive in the office I go to, BUT yep they check every inch of skin!
SHG
I'm going to bring this one back to the top because it is so important. I am faithful about heavy sunscreen protection and broad brimmed hats with a cape for maximum neck and ear protection, but the real damage was done decades ago when I was much younger and brown as a bear from all that sun, and when I wasn't surveying I was hanging out by the pool. I've had seven skin cancer surgeries so far this year, most just piddly deals of getting them cut out and right back to work. Last time doc said I was now on the six month plan, and take off your shirt. I can check my front and sides okay, but sure enough he found a little suspicious area on my lower back and cut it out. The pathology report said it was a melanoma so yesterday I had to go back for a much larger incision to make sure he got plenty of margin. The blood was all over the place.
Moral of the story - get checked, head to toe, nekkid like.
Bruce Small, post: 447933, member: 1201 wrote: ..Moral of the story - get checked, head to toe, nekkid like.
So true. My ear is just now healing from a follow-up "whittling" after a nasty pathology report earlier in the year. It's just a fact of life for those of us that have been fortunate enough to live this long. I had a bad report on a spot on my face 15 years ago. It was a wake up call for me.
I'm a regular at the dermatologist every six months. He whittles and hacks away and everything is usually benign. This spot on my ear required a little more digging. I'll find out in a few months if they need to whack off more ear. I'm not too worried, my ears quit working ten years ago anyway.
To you younger guys: If your doc isn't making you strip down completely, he's doing it wrong. Melanomas can pop up in spots other than the usual "burned up" skin. Stay on top of it and you can enjoy a peaceful demise from something less dreadful, like eating or drinking too much. 😉
For the face
For the body
http://www.supergoop.com/shop/everyday-sunscreen-with-natural-oat-extract/
Long sleeve shirts, summer time generally Columbia or Magellan brand lightweight and breathable 100% synthetic button downs.
Pants are generally a side pocket Tru-Spec or tactical style pants, lowest cotton content I can find. Generally 65% polyester.
And a boonie hat. Always wear a boonie hat in the summer. You have to keep that sun off your head.
Winter time around here is a bit more forgiving as to the choice of clothing materials but as a rule cotton is the worst choice for clothes in the world. It's hot, absorbs sweat and water.
[SARCASM]hmmm...sun-avoidance. Anything john ??[/SARCASM]
R.J. Schneider, post: 447979, member: 409 wrote: [SARCASM]hmmm...sun-avoidance. Anything john ??[/SARCASM]
Saw this thread but had not read any of it until now. Many good suggestions, but the most obvious (and perhaps the most effective) method always seems to be overlooked entirely......
[SARCASM]Get an indoor job and allow the sun to hit you Only when getting to and from your car. Hire someone to do the outside work at your house while staying inside doing something else (watch tv, nap, putter around, things like that)[/SARCASM]
That also avoids having to use all them nasty sunscreen chemicals on your skin and obviously very much overdressing on hot days with long pants and long sleeve shirts and real shoes.....
Have an appointment on Tuesday with a dermatologist. Probably will have a little cutting torch (freezing) action on one knuckle. First trip for this type of thing.