Tea and Skin Cancer

[prosodic]

Skin cancer runs in my family. I've always been rather paranoid about getting it, particularly since I have so many moles, and because I fit the high risk profile (fair skin, fair hair, runs in the family), but lately, I've been even more paranoid and I'm trying to be more diligent about slathering on sunscreen on a regular basis.

It was good to read this today.

Although I have had a few bad burns in my life, so I don't know how much tea will actually help me. But hopefully, it will help some.

Just another reason why I'm glad I drink tea.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

deyo and I both spent our childhoods getting burned. When I was young, the only danger was the *pain*, but when I was in junior high and started getting pimples on my back, I found that sunburning helped control those, so I'd burn on purpose two or three times each summer. In addition, I had severe eczema when I was younger (mild, now), and sunburning controlled that. It seemed like a dream.

My dad was covered with freckles, Mom had quite a few substantial moles, I've got a mix somewhere in between. I'm going to start annual dermatology appointments this year, just for a once-over, check out each of my spots for suspicious shape, change, color, etc. I can't see at least half of them myself.

It's not that I'm now paranoid, I just know to attend to them.

deyo's much paler than I am -- I burn to a deep tan, he just burns, repeatedly. And he's got some impressive moles. He's going in this month to have four of the bigger ones removed (two are in places that shaving harasses), and to have the rest inspected.

Maybe you can talk to the doctor about getting a visual inspection once a year or so.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky in that I can pretty much see all of my moles. I don't really have any on my back. They're all on the front of my body, with the exception of one on the lower left side of my back, but I can see that one. I actually keep my eye on that one in particular, because it's got a dark red middle and a pink edge. But I've had 2 doctors look at it, and neither one of them thought it looked suspicious.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

My dermatologists (and now, my son's pediatrician) have told me that most of the damage to your skin happens when you're young. Not that you can't continue to damage it now, but the type of sun damage that is liable to cause skin cancer is most likely to be a result of how much sun damage you got as a kid/teen.

[prosodic.livejournal.com]

I know...and oddly, I didn't really burn when I was a kid (although tanning is a form of skin damage too). I started burning in my teens. So I know damage has already been done. And I briefly went to a tanning bed when I was a teen, which also works against me.