So glad you had it taken care of.
I love coming here; there are so many posts that even if you don't have time to reply; reading them will get you thinking.

The link below was put together after a discussion on Vaseline. One gal started reading a link & saw that mineral & baby oils have been known to cause long term lung problems.

Skin - products to use & avoid

I missed trail's thread, but wow Lynn, it's a real wake up for me too. So glad everything turned out well for you! I was just looking in the mirror the other day and wondering how many fewer tiny wrinkles there would be if we had not worshiped the sun as we did. (Yep, did the baby oil & iodine too.) To this day I'm terrible about sunscreen on my face because so much of it is irritating for some reason (other than days I wear Bare Minerals, which isn't often in heat and not sure how well the SPF works in it). I'll sometimes do the pony tail/baseball cap but that's not enough. I really need to get with the program and get serious about finding a good sunscreen for sensitive skin.

Thank you, Lynn and Trailrunner! This is such an important thing, and the steps necessary in the battle against skin cancer are so easy.

Lynn, I am glad that you had good results. I had a very small "mole" removed from my collarbone a few years ago; to the surprise of both me and my wonderful dermadoc, it was a squamous cell cancer. It looked nothing like the usual pictures of skin cancers. It was completely excised and there have been no further problems, but I go in to see him every six months, as my father had a couple of basal cell carcinomas on his face.

I was never much of a sun-bather, don't tolerate the sun well, but I did have a very, very bad sunburn when I was about fifteen. One sunburn can do a tremendous amount of damage down the line. Have paid strict attention to my dermatologists over the years. Always wear lotion, wear a hat to garden, and have not gone anywhere, not even the mailbox, without big wide sunglasses, for at least thirty-five years, probably more. People especially who tend to be fair need to follow these rules.

I am SO glad that you went and had these checked out and that you caught this so early !! Congratulations on a fine outcome. I am very bad about sunscreen. It never stays on as I sweat so much and am so active. I have been very lucky. I used to spend hours in the sun as a teen...I tanned easily but still...not a good thing. I have a lot of damage as far as speckles on my chest and and now my thighs have tiny freckles from all the sun on the past 2 bike tours. I would have to put on sunscreen every 15 minutes when I am biking. I do put it on but only 2x a day. I wear long sleeves and a hat etc instead...and the clothes are treated with SPF>..one reason I love Sierra Trading Post ..they have great prices on these clothes.

Good Luck and I hope others see this post and get checked. My DD's spot on the bridge of her nose came up overnight and was white and shiny..it is a very rare kind and we would never ever have thought it was a cancer. She is doing wonderfully by the way. c

Lynn, you must have been a nervous wreck waiting for the results! What a relief and I'm so glad you're fine.

My son who is only 33 went and had all future suspicious moles taken off and tested a few months ago just to be safe.

Just out of curiosity, are you fair skinned? I am and I really should get myself checked.

Thanks Everyone! Oakley, I'm fairly fair-skinned with brown hair and eyes (Scottish and Belgian ancestry), but tan easily like my father. Growing up, I spent as much time as I could in and around the water. We had a pool in our backyard, a summerhouse on the lake and then I lived in Florida on the ocean for 4 years in my twenties. To say that I spent a lot of time out in the sun in a bathing suit would be an understatement. I really screwed up, getting bad sunburns too many times to count over the years and am now paying the price for it, I guess. Thank goodness DH got on my case once we started dating and talked me into using a good sunscreen instead of the baby oil and iodine!
Lynn

OK Ladies -- If you're over 40 and haven't had a full-body mole check within the past year or two, it's time to get moving!

Like many others, I spent my childhood in a bathing suit in the sun trying to get the darkest tan I could -- which, with my blond hair and fair skin, took some doing. Baby oil for me too...

Had a full-body check this time last year and caught two pre-cancerous moles that were easily removed. I'll go again next year -- Funny, but the spots I was concerned about were 'nothings', but the two 'bad' ones on my back had been there forever...

Me, too. Another baby oil/iodine teen and some nasty burns years ago. Had been negligent and not had a full body scan for 4 years till Trail posted about her DD. Went in expecting I'd probably have a number of suspicious somethings as I did last time, but nothing this time. Whew!

Lynn I'm glad you were on top of this early. And thank you again, Trail - you probably sent more of us than you know for a check up.

Wow...glad you went in Lynne. I really need to do a body scan. I've had a few I've asked my PPC about and he's looked them over and said they were not suspicious, but not had him do a full check, nor have I seen a dermatologist.

Another iodine/baby oil/lay on foil in the full sun kid. Grew up in So Cal, so I also was in a swimsuit from the time I could crawl. I'm not necessarily fair skinned, but I have had plenty of sunburns, one so bad that I actually ended up with sun poisoning (?? where I got feverish, sick to my stomach, etc).

I am VERY lax on sunscreen, but try to wear a hat when I'm out. I'm lucky in that my skin is great, I have faint freckles, but I've had them all my life, and my chest has little to no visible sun damage. I am starting to get some age spots and those white non-pigment dots on my arms. But I AM afraid of skin cancer...so I WILL make an appointment right now!

Thank goodness indeed Lynn!

Sable, it sounds like we had similar experiences with how our squamous cell looked and what our Dr's thought.
I had a squamous cell removed from my shin four years ago.
I noticed a small spot while applying moisturizer after shaving and pointed it out when I went for my yearly body scan. The Dermatologist said she would do a biopsy just to be sure it wasn't anything. Well, she was just as surprised as I was when it came back as squamous cell. She said you know sometimes we can't even tell just by looking at a spot. It was not a mole, raised or an open sore, it just looked like a small crescent shaped light brown freckle.

I also had a basel cell removed with the MOHS procedure in the fold of my nose less than a year after the squamous on my shin. Fingers crossed nothing since then.

I did not use baby oil & iodine but I spent summers outdoors without sunscreen either playing tennis or swimming . When I turned 30 I decided no more sun for me without sunscreen. I'm close to double nickels now.

Moonshadow, I also have sensitive skin and I have had wonderful results using Clinique's City Block SPF 25 or SPF 40 on my face everyday either alone or under makeup unless it is raining.

Trailrunner, when I am swimming outdoors or gardening I use Banana Boat Sport on my face, it really is water resistant and no eye stinging. My DH sweats a lot too & he just reapplies it every 2 hours.

My Dermatologist's office had brochures for a company that sells hats & SPF clothing, great products & customer service.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sun Day Afternoons

Wow, glad you went to get it checked out.

I grew up in Buffalo, so not a lot of long-term sun. I was never a huge sun worshipper but I did get sunburns which are obviously a concern. I do go to a dermatologist every year to get checked out. Luckily I've been OK.

Southern ...thanks for the tip about the sunscreen. I will be out for 3months and need to use something that will work well. I used the very expensive sun block by Nivea ??? for faces...can't remember but it is 100 I think. It does work well and no stinging.

Glad it turned out so well. Our doctor, as part of a physical, does a full body check for moles, etc. Also attention should be paid to the scalp! I did the baby oil/iodine a time or two and that was it. I have for years worn sunscreen, so I'm hoping it evens out my odds!

Always, ALWAYS wear sunscreen on your face. The very best thing you can do for aging effects.

Southern_vesta - Your story is one more that confirms the need to have something that looks like nothing checked out. The good part of this particular issue is that it is so easily taken care of!

Just wanted to reiterate what dermatologists have been telling me for over thirty years - sunglasses not only protect the eyes, but, dependiong on their size, also the delicate skin around the eyes. With wide sidebars they also inhibit the development of crow's feet. Jacqueline Onassis was not wearing her super-glam glasses just for fashion's sake!

I had gone to a dermatologist to have a mole checked
with possible removal as it was bothersome in that it
was getting rubbed by the line of my bathing suit on my
lower back. It was just your average "nevus"...she removed
it but said she was concerned about the spot (miniscule)
next to it. She took a biopy and I got the call back that
it was basal cell ca...I now go twice a year for the full
body scan. Rotten Irish skin here!