Lindsey, my little sister has had 3 (or more-she stopped telling us about all of them) basal cell carcinomas removed, and she's not even 30 yet. 2 were on her face and 1 on her shoulder. Her dermatologist took our family history very seriously- our paternal grandfather died of melanoma. I had a mole on my back since I was at latest 7 years old, and several years ago I wanted it removed because it was rubbing on my new low-rise jeans. The dermatologist, first visit, zapped the thing off. Of course it was just a mole; if I had cancer for 20 years (that's at least as long as I had the mole) I'd probably be in serious trouble. Anyway, I don't care how fantastic the derm is supposed to be, if s/he doesn't listen to you, the patient, s/he's a crappy doctor. Nobody knows what is normal for you better than you. If the derm can't get that, s/he's not worth seeing. Keep looking for a trusting derm. And try not to worry. I know it's hard, my sister was 23 when she was first diagnosed, and didn't take it so well at first. But then she started to joke around saying stuff like "Don't annoy me, I have cancer" and such in a joking manner, although obviously she did have cancer. But being lighthearted about it, talking to people honestly, and being diligent about keeping her derm appointments and looking for skin changes has helped. It's not something that will ever go away- she will always have to be on the lookout for new growths. But it is mananged. PS- her derm said that he is treating tons of people her age with skin cancer, especially on the left side of the face, shoulder, and arm. Chalks it up to long commutes (trucker's tan) and lack of ozone layer. And BTW, she lives in Chicago, not exactly the most tropical or direct sun exposure in the world.

Laura, I believe for you you're MOHs experience did cause PTSD. For me, my MOHs experiences have contributed to piece of mind and a good night's sleep. 30 years ago I had a BCC on my face removed in the doctor's office; cut and scraped, without any margin tissue sent off for biopsy to determine if there were clear edges. It left a medium sized hole in my face that always prompted the question "What happened?" when meeting someone for the first time afterwards. A year later I noticed a spot on the tip of my nose. Not wanting to risk the same disfigurement on my nose I contacted a plastic surgeon that had removed a BCC near the eye/tear duct a few years before. In planning the procedure he mentioned that the surgery was simple and was there anything else I wanted taken care of. I asked him to fix the scar from the other BCC. Day comes, I have the removal and reconstructive surgeries and everything looks great. Then, a week later, I get a call at home. It's my PS. He says a biopsy of the scar he'd fixed from the BCC removal the year before came back and there was cancer everywhere on the edges. A week later I go back in to have it taken care of. The cancer was deep. He said he almost had to cut entirely through my skin layers to remove it. My lip was pulled up into a prominent Elvis type sneer. I've had three additional surgeries to correct the disfigurement. The dermatologist from the other BCC called later to see how things are going. I thought at the time that he was wanting to touch base to see if I was going to initiate a lawsuit against him. (I didn't.) To shorten a long story, all cancers I've had since are removed through MOHs. I see a dermatologist every three months. Tidbit - 15 years ago I participated in one of the clinical trials for Aldara. I was in the group that got the Aldara. I knew because my forehead looked like I'd taken a bad fall on concrete while skateboarding.

I have had skin cancer in three places on my face. One Squamous Cell on my forehead, and two Basal Cell -- one on the side of my nose, and the other near the inside corner of my right eye. That one was so close to the tear duct that my dermatologist (who is consistently named one of the two Top Docs in dermatology) sent me to a Mohs specialist. If you know where to look, and look closely, you can see an itty bitty scar on my forehead and an itty bitty scar on the side of my nose. But you cannot tell at all where the Mohs surgery was done near my eye. A very basic explanation of the difference between "regular" surgery and Mohs surgery is that with the regular surgery, the doctor will remove a chunk of skin surrounding the area where the mole (or "bump") was removed. Then the tissue will be sent to a lab for analysis. If an edge of that chunk has any cancerous cells, you have to go back again to have another chunk removed. And, they won't know exactly where on the original chunk the cancer cells were, so an even larger area will be excised to try to make sure they got it all. With Mohs surgery, a very thin section of skin is removed. That section is then cut into quarters, and each quarter is given a different color. Those quarters are examined, and if any of them have cancerous cells, the doctor will remove another thin layer, but only from the section(s) that still are affected. They know exactly which areas to go back to because of how the sections are coded. Yes, it can take all day, but that's because once a sample is excised, you go back out to the waiting room while the tissue is prepared and examined. The "waiting part" takes about an hour or so. If they need to go back for more, you are taken back to the procedure room again, and then back out to the waiting room. As soon as you get an "all clear," you can leave. And the waiting room where I had my Mohs surgery had extremely comfortable recliners to rest (nap) in. And this was years before I had a Kindle, so I brought some knitting with me. I, too, go for a fully body skin check each year. Thankfully, nothing further has been found.

Kim, I remember roasting my body in baby oil too. Weren't we young and foolish then? Amy, Gardening under an umbrella is the best! It keeps you so much cooler. I bet you'll love it. George, I love everything about that photo of you, including the roses! I think hats such as yours are still available. There was a guy who did yard work in town for many years, sort of like a yard and garden handyman, that we used to see while driving through town and he always wore a big, big Mexican sombrero that shaded practically his whole body while he worked. I always thought that we all need big woven straw hats like that. It was so large it was almost like he was wearing a sun umbrella. The heat yesterday was just beastly and I stayed out in it too long helping Chris work on his house. Today I mostly stayed indoors in the kitchen and it didn't seem as hot as it had on previous days, but that might have been because I was doing more prep work that involved chopping veggies and not as much canning that involved making the kitchen hot and steamy. I'm ready for a cool, rainy day but the odds for us having one of those are almost slim to none down here. I think we have a 20% chance of rain next Tuesday or Wednesday, and that's not much of a chance.