IronM

Many jerseys are going very thin, as this helps with heat control. I try to avoid those, though I do live in the deep south & the idea is tempting. I had some racing jerseys last year that were pretty much see-though - probably SPF-0. I gave those away.

ZippyThePinhead

(start at 9:00 in for the relevant content).

McBTC

I was at a birthday party recently for a dude who'd turned 73 and noticed a group of about 5 of his golf buddies gathered in a small group and every one of them had a small bandage on some part of their face. The 60-something retired guy I was talking to pointed it out. He golfs too and was dark, leathered and wrinkled and told me he keeps a can of liquid nitrogen that he uses at home to freeze off abnormal cells.I told him I'd just bought a pair of white sleeves for cycling and he told me some guys at his club wear them too but he doesn't even wear a hat and plays right through the highest UV part of the day... everyday, with nothing but his naturally-acquired tan for protection (he likes the vitamin D his body is making, which you don't make if your skin is lathered-up with UV-protection).

donheff

That sounds like a guy with a lot of keretosis if he needs his own nitrogen source to freeze them , So far, so good said the jumper falling past the 50th floor. A malignant melanoma may be next on the horizon.

McBTC

His take on it was a bit different-- although I don't remember exactly, I think it was to the effect that it was melanoma that was the biggy but that you don't get it that way-- e.g., people who get melanoma usually are not in the sun much. I remember hearing years ago that melanoma was more associated with a pasty white New Yorker getting it on the middle of his back than on the face of a surfer who was in the sun all day.

McBTC

For example...

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...eficiency.aspx

McBTC

...and,

As written in The Lancet:"Paradoxically, outdoor workers have a decreased risk of melanoma compared with indoor workers, suggesting that chronic sunlight exposure can have a protective effect."

nemo57

Down here in Australia, we enjoy the skin cancer capital of the world. This was not realised in my youth, where my Celtic flesh was regularly broiled several layers deep in the summer sun. However, the skin cancers don't necessarily appear at the sites of greatest damage. Here we have the aftermath of removal of a melanoma approx 1/4" in diameter from the upper arm of the subject. (Nice bibs, I know)

I am glad that I did not have to pay for this in the US. The dermatologist assures me that it's beautiful work by the plastic surgeon. I'm so reassured. At all events, it hasn't shown up elsewhere so far.
Some years ago, a former secretary of mine in her early 30s died only 2 weeks after diagnosis of a melanoma on her back. Such horror stories incline us not to phark around with the condition of our epidermis. SPF30-50 sunscreen and have someone - some loved one, perhaps - regularly look at your skin generally and moles in particular for any changes in them. We've all done most of the damage by now and are reaping the benefits.

ZippyThePinhead

I had seen this thread before and thought it should be linked here for future readers.
@nemo57, may I ask why the scar is so long for a 1/4" diameter melanoma? As well, were you doing regular dermatologist visits, and caught something fast-growing early, or what was the story in greater detail? That sure doesn't look very much like beautiful work right now. I'd be curious to see a pic of the scar in 6-12 months.

fietsbob

have a basal cell melanoma to be removed from my left ( facing the summer, open car window side ), temple .

nemo57

Hey, Zippy
I had been seeing a dermatologist annually, but this I noticed at about 6 months after my last visit when a mole bled after I itched it. Saw a local - not my usual - GP who thought it was nothing but gave me a referral to a different dermatologist, just in case it didn't settle down. Some weeks later my wife insisted that it wasn't settling, so I used the referral. Dermatologist thought it unlikely to be malignant, but did a biopsy just in case. The rest is history. Overall, about 3 months between that first GP Visit and excision.
The scar is kinda misleading if impressive: plastic surgeon was thinking to do a graft, but figured my ancient hide was sufficiently supple to close if the incision was long enough. It's only skin deep, of course, and now, at a couple of months later, it's settling down considerably.

ZippyThePinhead

This photo you shared was very sobering and memorable.

I saw my GP today and his MO is basically "show me anything suspicious and we'll go from there..." But he did warn me regarding something unusual, like the bleeding mole you experienced.

I'm obviously not a doctor so I can't really speak to the correlation between family cancer history and the individual when it comes to skin cancer, but I would expect that family history can warn each of us regarding what we might expect. May I ask, do your parents or siblings have any similar experiences with melanoma? Anything that might have tipped you off in advance?

We're coming into our summer weather here in CA, and I've found that the Pearl Izumi sun sleeves aren't so bad... yet. They are a little warmer than wearing nothing, but I've not worn them on really warm days just yet.

nemo57

Well, Zippy, my mother was a Scots-born redhead and I largely inherited her complexion rather than my father's: he turned walnut-brown at the slightest exposure to fresh air. So my cards were marked from the start, I think. She too had a melanoma, but not until she was well into her 80s, and it didn't carry her off.
I guess the other thing is the Australian sun: I don't know what California is like, but during a year spent in Louisiana I found the sun there very mild. No doubt the humidity has a lot to do with this. Visitors to Australia are frequently surprised by just how fierce our summer sun is. 20-30 minutes outdoors in January-February and you can really notice it beating down. You know that desert scene in The Good The Bad & The Ugly? That's what it gets like. So we rush to the beach to maximise the reflections from the sand ... I spent my youth like that but I can't hack it any more.
But as Australians we tend - now - to be conscious of the fact that we inhabit the skin cancer capital of the world, both patients and medicos. So we tend to be on the lookout for it. I wouldn't expect that in, say, Iceland.

Biker395 

You should have your SO inspect you as well. Lesions can pop up in all kinds of unexpected places that you can't personally inspect.

I hadn't seen a dermatologist in years and when I finally went in for inspection, I was taken aback at the numerous questions I was asked about my family history. I knew there was certainly a genetic component to skin cancer (that people from upper latitudes were more susceptible), but it was clear from her questions that family history was a major factor in determining risk, over and above just being Irish or of Mediterranean descent.

Sydney and Los Angeles are at similar latitudes, but one major difference is the persistent hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. I've read that the ozone layer over different parts of the Earth is highly seasonal ... I wonder if that explains why there seems to be so much variability perceived sun intensity? It sure seems like there are times the Sun on an uncloudy day is more intense than others.

Good thread, Zippy. Cycling has so many health benefits, but the extra exposure to the Sun is surely a countervailing factor that should be minimized.

ZippyThePinhead

This is very wise, and though it may seem obvious, IME many folks-- I include myself-- excel at ignoring the obvious.

To future readers who stumble on this thread, use a search engine to find images related to "curaderm treatment" and/or "fluorouracil treatment" and see if that doesn't motivate you to take care of your skin.

I've heard it observed that "youth is wasted on the young," and I agree. I'm a living example of this, but I'm trying to learn from the mistakes of all the older guys I know, instead of repeating them.