My Scare With Skin Cancer: A Friendly Reminder to Always Wear Sunscreen

This happened to me last year, but please, this is something that is so important to me...wear YOUR sunscreen, please.

I had something on my head - not a mole, not a skin tag, just this small thing that sort of looked like a pimple.

It's called Basal Cell Carcinoma. Such a big word, right? And scary to hear. At first, when I went to the dermatologist he told me it's the most common form of skin cancer and it's something that can be removed - then he went on to tell me it's something we'll have to dig the roots out of it. This process took about 4 - 5 hours waiting to see if the cells had cancer in them. Thank goodness my cells were OK, but if I would have left it and not had the roots cut out, it would've spread. I had it removed and dug out and with 14 stitches later, I'm just fine. Today - I get the stitches out and hopefully I can stop wearing these headbands to hold on the bandage.

The Basal was right on the hairline. I have such fair skin, I know that. But, when I was younger, you guessed it, I'd lay outside with baby oil and never wore sunscreen. As I got older, I always wore sunscreen but I never put it on my hairline. I just never thought to do that. I'm a big hat girl, but it wasn't enough, I needed sunscreen on my hairline.

This is just a friendly reminder, if anything looks a little funny to you on your body - get it checked out and wear sunscreen. My doctor told me along with no sunscreen, it's also genetics, too. Basal Cell Carcinoma is very popular with the senior population, I was 47 years so it can happen to anyone.