or wearing a beard and thinking you don't need it...

damn! please do explain.

People with chronic exposure to the sun have a lower rate of melanoma, than people who cover up. One rationalization is that chronic exposure, with gradual tanning from winter on to summer, so you never get burned, builds up the chemicals in the skin that degrade precursors to DNA damage.

It is also important to see a dermatologist regularly. I had never seen one until this past year. My regular doctor said I should have a thing looked at. The thing he said should be looked at was not skin cancer; they froze it off. They did find some other things though; removed one pre-melanoma and two basal cell skin cancers. Not fun getting cut and stitched; use the sunblock.

Dow -- very fashionable, tell people it is a dueling scar.

John Duffield wrote:

I can't understand why someone would go to all the trouble and expense of having a form fitting custom leather suit made and would then wear it to the beach!

MoapaPk wrote:Dow -- very fashionable, tell people it is a dueling scar.

When people ask me about the scar on my chin, I say there was two of them and one had a knife!

MoapaPk wrote:People with chronic exposure to the sun have a lower rate of melanoma, than people who cover up.

I don't exactly doubt you, but do you have a source on this? I know that studies about the efficacy of sunblock are pretty rare, due to obvious moral considerations.

It is strange that most melanomas, according to my doctor, occur on the back. I have had two pre-cancerous clusters removed from there myself. Again according to my doctor, one theory is that we just don't see them developing as we do those on our self-visible areas, so they aren't caught.

The Lancet, Volume 363, Issue 9410, Pages 728 - 730, 28 February 2004

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)15649-3

Is there more than one road to melanoma?

"Sunlight is the main environmental cause of most cutaneous melanomas. Exposure to intense bursts of ultraviolet radiation, especially in childhood, starts the transformation of benign melanocytes into a malignant phenotype. Paradoxically, outdoor workers have a decreased risk of melanoma compared with indoor workers, suggesting that chronic sunlight exposure can have a protective effect."

Dow Williams wrote:or wearing a beard and thinking you don't need it...

And what SUPERB job of nice, neat stitching they did! Mine wasn't that significant, so the stitching wasn't as neat, but the result was the same (and now it doesn't even show). At the recommendation of the dermatologist, I now use lots of SPF40 goop.