Sunscreen Anyone? An Introspective on Skin Cancer.

Today (Saturday, August 16th) is the first day of my required hiatus from running.  If you read yesterday’s blog then you know that I had a melanoma removed from the back of my right leg.  As luck would have it, it is right in the bend and pretty restrictive as far as movement is concerned.  Hopefully the picture doesn’t gross you out too much! 

Growing up in the  70’s and 80’s  I was part of the culture that the sun was to worship, the darker the tan the better.  The notion of slathering sunscreen all over you before you went outside was unheard of; in fact, just the opposite was true.  If you are forty plus like me then you, too, will recall all the ads that were on television at the time.  The push wasn’t avoid the sun but get out in it and be proud of your savage tan!  Who can forget those HawaiianTropic Commercials?  I couldn’t wait to use the “dark tanning oil” so that I could look as exotic as the models on television.

 

The Coppertone ad was equally unforgettable with an adorable little girl having her bathing suit bottoms pulled down slightly by a dog while at the beach.  That is powerful advertising!

 

I have a cousin who is a brunette and was able to tan effortlessly using only baby oil and iodine. She shared her secret  formula for tanning with me and I thought  I  would joined her in her sun worshipping. Needless to say, I suffered one of many blistering sunburns that I would receive during my childhood. Thank goodness my well meaning mother was around! She  just popped the blisters with a needle, applied a vinegar and baking soda paste to take away the sting, and I was able to get right back at it the next day. Thanks to this baby oil and iodine concoction  I can remember being so covered in freckles that summer that everyone would tease that “if your freckles would just grow together, you would have an awesome tan.”

October 16, 1984 enter the reflective tanning blanket.  Boy, I can’t thank the inventor of that enough!  It wasn’t good enough that I had been receiving substantial sunburns for over ten years now, but thanks to this wondrous scientifically sound invention, I  could blister myself evenly now, paying special attention to my flanks. (Didn’t know what flanks were, didn’t care.  I was finally going to have that savage tan that I had been chasing for all those years). 

Let’s not forget those wonderful “personal tanning bulbs” that were so popular back then.  You got to wear some kickin sun goggles so that you wouldn’t burn the retinas in your eyes as you doused yourself in artificial sunlight in  the privacy of your own home. (I wonder how many people my age have dysfunctional retinas because of that lovely invention?) If you got too close then the tan that you were after eluded you and isteadyou got a bright red sunburn with permanent white goggle outlines on your face.  I was eluded a lot!

Finally, the tanning beds of my college days.  Thanks to their appearance I would relax and enjoy a little music while I dosed my body with cancer causing rays.  Thank goodness I caught a fungus from a poorly cleaned bed (yuck!) and was too scared to keep going after I finally got it cleared up.

By the time I was twenty, I had had more sumburns, blisters, and sun poisioning than I could count.  By then, it was too late and the damage had been done. The odd thing is I still look at tanned people in envy-it’s just definitely not for me.