You old sun dogs - make sure you visit a Dermatologist

[Wetstuff]

Even tho' I lived most of my life on latitudes north of New York City and am of Polish/German descent (as compared to light skin Irish) I have basically never worn a hat, outside a toque in Winter.  ..nor watches, nor rings or scratchy labels: certifiable oddball. 

I was a sailor, iceboater, worked in the boating industry, kitesurfed 11yrs ...and, even though I used 'sunscreen', it wasn't until I read about regulations for US consumer sunscreens that said; just like vitamins/supplements, there is no regulation these companies need to meet certain minimum standards or prove their product includes ingredients on the label ..or claims of efficacy.  I didn't switch to Blue Lizard from OZ 'till 2015.  (Australia does not allow variable standards of protection or Bullc'hit claims)

I'm entering my third week of chemo for actinic keratosis/basal cell carcinoma.  I waited 'till winter because the area is very photosensitive during this period.  This is my second go at this; I had a similar round of this Fluorouracil creme in 2014.  The first round pretty much took care of it - at the time.  ...but, I pretty much live half my life outside and I may now be susceptible.

The reason I am taking this a little more seriously ..a friend of many years died this past fall. His cancer met'zd; it was brain/bone that killed him, but (I don't exactly know how they know..) the origin was melanoma. They figure about 1 person an hour in the States dies of meloma. Be forewarned!  ..schedule a visit ..buy a Kook Hat.  (Amazon has a decent one from FCS)

Jim

...two of the dings on the right came from working in the crawlspace at home.

[TallDude]

I use it every day.  I put on Lubiderm w / SPF 15 right after I shave. It doesn't smell or feel like you have any sunblock or greasy moisturizer. Doesn't make my eyes sting if I workout. If I'm going surfing or a long paddle, I'll put some PSF 50 over it.
In a few weeks I'm going in to
have some Basil cells removed.  I'm fair skinned and have spent most of my life outdoors, so I  regularly see a dermatologist.
Another topical chemo is efudex. It works great to cover large areas.  Especially on your face, neck and arms.

[laszlo]

I thought basal cell carcinoma is not usually that critical, it normally does not metastasize. Melanoma on the other hand will kill you if not caught in time. I dodged that bullet some years ago when I was diagnosed with melanoma on my back. Total dumb luck that it was caught in time. I had a pimple on my chest that looked odd and didn't resolve normally. I decided to see a dermatologist, and found that getting an appointment with a dermatologist is not that easy. Most wouldn't accept new patients; I finally got an appointment with my wife's long time dermatologist, for about three months in the future. Of course, long before the appointment, my pimple cleared up on its own. When the date of the appointment came around I almost blew it off, since there was nothing to show the doctor any more. Since it was so hard to get the damn appointment I decide to go anyway. Good call. Since I was there anyway the doc said let me check you out; that's when she found the melanoma on my back. I did not have clue and would never have had seen or felt it. Probably saved my life. Now I go twice a year and get a full head to toe exam. She always finds something to remove, although it's usually a basal cell or squamous cell, not melanoma. It is almost 100% certain that all these skin cancers are caused by sun exposure, probably sunburns I got as a teenager!

[SUPcheat]

Basal Cell is low metastasis, but can spread locally. One of my professional school classmate's father died of basal cell, because it spread locally and eroded his face and skull.

One of the reasons I am fine with Santa Cruz is because I don't mind the cover up with wetsuits/rash guard/gloves and sunscreen on the exposed areas.

I see the sun worshipers romping around playing paddle ball at the nude beach at Privates.  For some reason, they really like to flop around in the sun playing paddle ball.  I wouldn't last fifteen minutes with that much sun exposure.

I do use a UV light for psoriasis, but it is sparing and lower energy UV.  It doesn't seem to immunize me much from sun UV.

[laszlo]

I also now cover up and use sunscreen. Always wear a hat. However, my dermatologist tells me that I could spend the rest of my life in a dark closet and still continue to get skin cancers. It is mostly from sun damage that happened decades ago. Who didn't get the occasional sunburn when they were kids?

[Night Wing]

Since I've always been an outdoors type all of my life, I've always worn sunscreen while swimming or when bowhunting. When I was kayaking or sailing, I've always worn long sleeve shirts, long pants (no shorts) and a long billed hat to protect my skin.

When I take my Hammer for a leisurely paddle; I wear a long sleeve shirt, long pants and a 6" billed "flats hat" which protects the tip of my nose even though I wear sunscreen on my face. The only skin that is exposed is on my neck (front and back) and my ears. These exposed areas get liberal amounts of high SPF sunscreen too. Better to to safe than sorry if you get my drift.

So far I've had no skin problems related to sun exposure because when I was a kid I started to respect and fear what the sun's rays could do over time.

[Weasels wake]

I go in annually, have been for years, and I always plan on leaving a little bit of me behind every time I go in, I call it my annual pruning.
So far my dermo says that annually is good enough for me for now, but many of my friends are on a every 6 month schedule.

My brother didn't start wearing sunglasses until he was about 35, and now he's had all kinds of sun damage repair work done to his eyeballs, including surface stitches from pterygium growths (surfer's eye) removal.  I'll take skin pruning over that any day.

[blueplanetsurf]

Bummer Wet Stuff, I hope the chemo takes care of it.   I have to go every 6 months to get checked and get some keratosis spots removed every time.  Yes, it is result of a life of outdoor sports but I am much more careful now, use sunblock, brim hat and long sleeve shirt.  By the way, the Shelta hats are excellent in the water and I wear mine all the time now.

[Off-Shore]

Thanks for posting Wetstuff. My father had the same issues, also being an outdoorsman and who rarely wore sunscreen. He had many treatments over the years and kept it under control but latterly was very careful on exposure. That is why I always wear a hat with a chin strap that covers most of my ears. I don't give a flying F@c& what anyone else thinks about how I look. Just remembering what my Dad went through is enough for me to always wear a hat.. and after all, I ain't no teenager anymore. I also get annual checkups, and if anything appears out of the ordinary, go in and get checked up. Remember it is not just the areas that are exposed to the sun that need to be checked... Even those places the sun don't often shine on..

[yugi]

A helmut is pretty mandatory for nOOb kitesurfers because of the  highly likely crash potential. I continued to wear mine as I got a bit sportier mainly to protect my eardrums in crashes learning new tricks. I continue to wear my helmut kiting mainly for sunprotection now (also for visibility if waterbound).

I bought a kook hat but never had the guts to wear it. Yet I’m not ashamed to wear a helmut. Which brings us back to that discussion on promotional and media shots showing riders wearing leashes so it becomes acceptably cool.

Have worn a helmut for downwinds, mainly for the headcam. Elsewhere I’m still a baseball cap kind of guy.

For the skin I’ve been using a swiss product, Spirig Daylong (developed with Galderma). It really does last the whole day even when in and out of water throughout the day. Works for those high altitude ski days too where the sun is just brutal. It’s not a mineral screen so I wonder if the chemicals are not good for me. I have no idea other than it really works to prevent burn. There seems to be some experts on skin here. Is that the main factor: preventing sunburn (which is obviously screening the UV’s that burn the skin)?

[surfercook]

Wow, Wettie! That's terrible.  Good advice on the hat. I've been "Hattin' up" for years. Just scored three brand new FCS lids. Two baseball cap style and one bucket. The bucket style I like for walking the beach, caps are for the surf.

[Billekrub]

Have cracked two bicycle helmets on the pavement with no injury and had two windsurfers come down the line right into me, while sailing out and ate some sand wearing a helmet while flying a kite on the beach.  Have had one serious impact with sup (crushed the sup tail as well) and a number of near misses, as the leash brings the board back.

Helmet helps keep a sun hood and sunglasses on in the surf.  And saves stitches from board and paddle and mast whacks.  Otherwise I forget it is there.  The only one that fits my fat head:  $39 by NSI, Chaos model for kayaks.

As a pale face, keep skin covered all of the time.  Backs of hands, head, neck, etc., all except the lower face which is painted with zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.  Has helped one time when collecting blue bottle (man of war) jellyfish on arms.  And many times when brushing rocks near shore.

Ask any eye doctor about surfing without shades!

Ask any dermatologist about sun exposure.  Ask how often they see melanoma patients!  Or, check out sun worshippers as they age.

Warning:  A white face with dark goggles and helmet can terrify a 3 year old.

[Caribsurf]

I have had two stage 1 melanomas in the past 3 years and my dermatologist tells me it isn't a case of if but when I have my 3rd. They are scary and I have some nice scars to prove it.   He checks me every 3 months now. Melanomas run in the family and growing up in the West Indies I experienced some serious sun as a kid and Sea and Ski just didn't help.
I wear a long sleeve Bloq-Uv top and hat when paddling and avoid the sun when ever possible.

Best prevention in addition to hats, sunscreen and avoiding mid day sun, is regular check ups with a dermatologist.

Here's the link to the tops I wear..work great
Jhttp://www.bloquv.com

[coldsup]

I am in Scotland where it isn't really known for its sunshine.....but I wear a hat in summer....pale skin/ginger hair etc. I also simply don't like any sun in my eyes.


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[Weeble]

I finally got on with a great dermatology office after years of working with ones that will only do one or two things at a time, with constant follow up visits and anything that needs a stitch means going to a surgeon, and then sometimes an outpatient surgery facility.... such a massive waste of time.  One of the paddlers in our local group works at a place that has dermatologists, plastic surgeons, a MOS lab... pretty much everything done in one place.  And, they work on as many things as I want.  My first visit was "let's go until you cry uncle"... 17 freezes later and three cuts (one which required a few stiches)later, I cried "uncle".  Yeah, I hurt pretty good for a few days, but I just don't have the time to keep constantly going and doing one or two things at time.  We basically spent a few weeks of visits where they went after anything that they did like the look of to make sure I was relatively safe, and then had me start self treating with Fluorouracil creme.  Whenever I start a new section, I put it on twice a day and by the second week I'm really breaking out.  I just text photos to the doc and he lets me know when to stop treating the area.  Once that area heals up, I go in and he goes over the area to see what it didn't kill and attends to that.  the good thing is that anything that isn't healthy or normal, gets killed off.  the bad news is, if you have a lot of sun damage, if you do too big of an area, you're going to suffer... like I did.... LOL