Worried about melanoma at the moment
I've been worried about melanoma recently, probably because it's been so sunny.
I'm super pale and freckled, but with dark hair and greenish eyes.
I reckon I've had up to 10 bad sunburns, with pain and peeling, in my life. The first one was when I was about 10yo. So obviously that's bad straight away.
These days I still sunbathe. Apparently you're allowed 20 minutes on each side without sunscreen, so that's what I do on sunny days. I never burn when I do that, at least not noticeably, but I do develop a light tan.
I have so many moles. Honestly it's probably about 100. One of them in particular is weird af, pretty big and irregular with some darker bits, but I've had it for ages and the doctor checked it ages ago and said it was just a novus or something. My other moles look regular (that I can see).
Basically, I guess I'm pretty high risk for melanoma, and my past sunburns won't have helped. I don't know if my 20 mins sunbathing these days is a problem too. I read that the average white person has a 2.6% lifetime risk of melanoma, so I wouldn't be surprised if mine was 10% or more.
Not sure what to do now. You can't really get regular full body mole mapping in the UK, but maybe I should pay to do it privately?
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
Don't go down this path. It will consume you if you allow it to.
Positive thoughts
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fishmanpa
Don't go down this path. It will consume you if you allow it to.
Positive thoughts
I know it's one a lot of people are worried about. I genuinely think I'm probably at risk though. In a group of 20 people, I'm always the whitest. I have SO MANY moles. I've had the bad sunburns.
I'm not sure what I should be doing to make sure that if I get melanoma it's caught early.
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
O_O
In a group of 20 people, I'm always the whitest.
Just don't start getting the Tweety spray on orange tan Ok? :lac:
Positive thoughts
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
I would stop the sunbathing to be honest. Do you really need to put yourself at risk and obviously it has worried you so just don't do it.
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
nomorepanic
I would stop the sunbathing to be honest. Do you really need to put yourself at risk and obviously it has worried you so just don't do it.
The thing is my vitamin D is really low normally, and that's bad for fertility. So it's kind of a catch 22. They say 20 mins sunbathing is ok 🤷🏻*♀️ but idk. I think the worst damage has probably already been done.
Also apparently having 100 moles or more makes you 8 times more likely to get it or something.
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
So take Vitamin D supplements like I do.
I would seriously stop it now before things get worse.
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
O_O
The thing is my vitamin D is really low normally, and that's bad for fertility. So it's kind of a catch 22. They say 20 mins sunbathing is ok 路*♀️ but idk. I think the worst damage has probably already been done.
Also apparently having 100 moles or more makes you 8 times more likely to get it or something.
Please stop "researching"? You know how your HA spirals. You'll have terminal melanoma "definitely" before you know it.
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
I tried to count, and I counted almost exactly 100 moles. Some are much smaller, but I'm sure they're moles and not freckles. I have THOUSANDS of freckles, and tbh some of them might be moles too, but I didn't count the ones I wasn't sure of.
There's only one properly weird looking mole, the one I mentioned before. I might try to get it removed. The others are smaller than a pencil eraser, though some are still quite big.
Does anybody know WHY people with moles are 'drastically' more likely to get skin cancer? Is it that the moles are a sign that the skin doesn't react very well to sunlight?
Re: Worried about melanoma at the moment
So you are going to continue "researching"?