OT: skin cancer...on your scalp?!

[eddief]

this is for all the bros and sisters on the forum. out of the blue decided to have a thingy checked that was growing on my leg. no big deal, freeze that sucker off. but then derm guy was doing full body check to see what other invaders were invading. the thing he found on the side of my head...under my hair near my upper ear concerned him. i had no clue it was even there. he cut a small disk out of my head. i presumed no big deal. not sure if it is a big deal yet but biopsy turned out to be a melanoma. not common, not good. more digging to come. if you gots good insurance make sure derm check is part of routine maintenance.

glad i got my Turbo Creo now rather than later.

[Black Dog]

this is for all the bros and sisters on the forum. out of the blue decided to have a thingy checked that was growing on my leg. no big deal, freeze that sucker off. but then derm guy was doing full body check to see what other invaders were invading. the thing he found on the side of my head...under my hair near my upper ear concerned him. i had no clue it was even there. he cut a small disk out of my head. i presumed no big deal. not sure if it is a big deal yet but biopsy turned out to be a melanoma. not common, not good. more digging to come. if you gots good insurance make sure derm check is part of routine maintenance.

glad i got my Turbo Creo now rather than later.

Good thing it was caught! Hope things turn out well for you.

[gasman]

Glad they caught that lesion. Hope all turns out well.

[skiezo]

Great that it was caught in time.
I had anal cancer in 2019 and was pro active and had a check and it was caught before it was at stage 2. All cured after almost a year later.
Be pro active, if it doesn't feel right get it checked out.

[merlinmurph]

Yup, my wife recently pushed very hard for me to see a dermatologist and I finally went two weeks ago. Nothing bad here, he just froze a few things on the top of my head and prescribed a cream for two spots on my face. Considering all the damage I'm sure I inflicted on myself in my youth and young adult years (summer camp, sailing, windsurfing, riding, and just being outside in general), I'm calling myself lucky.

Good luck to the OP and stay on top of it.

[wc1934]

Wishing you all the best - hope things turn out ok for you.

Good PSA - dermatologists can be life savers - I had a cancerous growth on my calf removed - I never even knew it was there. Doc also commented about my pink eyelids and suggested I see my primary regarding my cholesterol levels - sure enough, they were elevated.

[Frankwurst]

I wish the OP best of luck and agree with his advice. I go once a year,every year. I spent 18 years working in the Florida sun as well as fishing, diving, riding bike to name a few. I enjoyed all of it but the sun is not your skins friend. Take care of it so a little thing doesn't become a big thing.:beer:

[William]

Wishing the best outcome to our OP!

A while back I was at the clinic to see my Dr., jumped on the elevator to ride up to the doc's office and the elevator stopped at the second floor. An elderly gentleman got on and then looked up at me and commented on my hat. "Never could wear a hat...wish I had". Then he shows me the big lesion on top of his head and starts telling me all about it. I felt bad but it was a good reminder to keep yourself protected as much as possible.





W.

[makoti]

I had a precancerous lesion removed from my scalp line. I was surprised by the location. Always under my hair (pretty thick stuff) or a hat, helmet, and/or headband. Rarely exposed. Dr told me it's actually one of the more common locations for it.

[eddief]

been medically lucky for 69.5 years. hoping it holds out.

[el cheapo]

Have a row of stitches in my chest right now from a basal cell. This coming Wednesday will have MOHS surgery on my forehead. Two weeks later another surgery on my shoulder. And two weeks after that surgery on my lower calf. Going to be a great October! That's what you get for riding and running in South Florida before sun screen lotion was the way to go. Almost forgot to mention...this makes thirteen surgeries.

[OtayBW]

YOW! Good luck with that, man! :eek:

[Ralph]

I go every 6 months. Every visit get something froze off, or sent out for biopsy. Serious stuff!

[joosttx]

Good luck, man. And thank you for reminding me. I need to get checked out because I skipped due to Covid.

[el cheapo]

Just call me...Stitch.

[benb]

I had a mess removed from my calf last year. (I'm 43). Turned out to be not cancer but it was a kind of mole which sometimes turns into melanoma. I had about 20 stitches and I have a big scar.

I have been going for 5 years or so for a yearly checkup mostly because my mother & grandmother both had skin cancer.

The scary one is my sister has already had a skin cancer.. she's 40. It was on her nose and she ended up with 2 surgeries and plastic surgery to reconstruct her nose after the first surgery got infected.

The dermatologist always checks in my hair.. guys with thinning hair have big issues with skin cancer on your head.

I wear a Tilley full brim hat a lot now if I'm out in the sun, even though I have a thick head of hair. For biking I try to be good about the sunscreen.

[eddief]

which i did not get during our initial "let's scare the crap out of Eddie" phone call. Melanoma stage 1A. Nearly all removed with biopsy cut. No lymph node biopsy required. Next visit will be to ensure margins are cleared with, hopefully, just a bit more surface area removal. Doc says 95% of these things result in +5 year survival rate which is about the same as I'd have at age 69 without the thingy on my scalp.

get checked.

[DeBike]

Catching it early is key. I go to the dermatologist every 6 months. I have had a few basel cell/squamous lesions removed, one requiring Mohs surgery. Melanoma is what killed my father at 78 years of age. He had a really nasty tumor removed from his forehead numerous before, including the removal of bone. After it healed, it looked like he had been hit with the peen of a hammer, an almost perfectly round, deep dent in his forehead.

Anyway, he had an event of blacking out and hitting his head very hard when he fell. That is when it was discovered the melanoma had metastasized, 2 weeks later he was dead.

I stay out of the midday sun as much as I can and wear protective clothing and sunblock. I do not like using the sunblock, especially when cycling, but do it anyway.

[eddief]

not sun related but more likely a mole that decided to screw with my later life.

[fkelly]

Been a daily runner, then cyclist for 60 years. That's a lot of time in the sun. Have had two MOHS surgeries and numerous spots frozen on my face in my regular 6 months visits to my dermatologist. Once you are determined to be susceptible you need regular visits.

One suggestion: wear a skull cap under your helmet. The vent holes in the top of the helmet also let the sun in. And when you get older and lose hair the top of your scalp becomes exposed. You can get cancer there too. The caps help keep sweat from dripping down too.

[Clancy]

One suggestion: wear a skull cap under your helmet. The vent holes in the top of the helmet also let the sun in. And when you get older and lose hair the top of your scalp becomes exposed. You can get cancer there too. The caps help keep sweat from dripping down too.

I always wear an UPF50 cap under my helmet for this reason. What’s frustrating is how hard UPF50 caps are to find. Overall, performance clothing with UPF50 rating is hard to find.

One item of clothing DeFeet or someone else needs to come out with is a long sleeve base layer, mesh in the torso transitioning to SPF50 material for the sleeves. Arm “coolers” are often a PIA.

[el cheapo]

Half way through my MOHS group plan (2 down 2 to go). So far both incisions have been about 5 inches long. Chest healed real well and now I'm suffering with the one on the left side of my forehead. Kind of strange that there was no swelling for two days then...both eyes and bridge of nose look like someone hit me with a baseball bat. Geez...use the sunscreen folks!

[eddief]

today had done 15 minute procedure. nickel sized circle out of scalp but about a 4 inch elliptical slice in order to enable easier joining of the hair producing sides and not leave me with a bald spot. for 95 out of 100 this is it but new extract will be sent to pathology to see if they got it all. procedure way easier than the 3 weeks of fear.

[teleguy57]

wear a skull cap under your helmet. The vent holes in the top of the helmet also let the sun in. And when you get older and lose hair the top of your scalp becomes exposed. You can get cancer there too. The caps help keep sweat from dripping down too.

This. No melanomas, but multiple atypical nevus, some surgically removed, some zapped. I always wear a cap under my helmet (current summer choice is the Giro SPF 30 Ultralight -- I like having a brim, and the shape of this one is pure Goldilocks -- not to large, not too small).

I'm about 99% LS summer SPF jerseys as well. I have a few SS with sunsleeves but they seem more a pain. Current fav is Boure (made by Voler).

I do sunscreen the tops of my quads/knees and back of calves, back of hands (no gloves guy) and for sure ears and nose before riding. I also use Kiehl's skin cream on my face, which is SPF 3, on my face every day.

[eddief]

said bad stuff gone...for now.

[merlinmurph]

said bad stuff gone...for now.

Good to hear. Keep an eye on it.

[bigbill]

Four years ago, the dermatologist at VA did a check including a "thing" near the end of my left eyebrow. The thing ended up being cancer and was cut out. It was tiny, but of all places, I figured if I was going to get skin cancer, it would be on my calves, upper legs, or arms. I've always been good about sunscreen on my neck and ears before a ride or hike and always wear a hat when I'm outside.

[verbs4us]

When my mom had a melanoma on her scalp, at age 89, we were all surprised. She is an indoor person and almost always wore a hat outdoors. The derm said something interesting: the rate of cell turnover in the scalp is among the highest in the body, so, at advanced ages, it is prone to go awry. Fortunately, also at advanced ages, melanomas are sometimes slower growing and less aggressive. She had two surgeries and now, at age 94, has been declared cancer-free.