Apparently I have hundreds of spots (actinic keratosis) that could potentially turn cancerous. Low risk but I do have to deal with it via efudex. Plus she said I should wear long sleeves etc. Sunscreen does nothing for this apparently. I'll have to get some of those special arm warmers that aren't warm I guess. And I can now justify one of those new aero road helmets from Giro. Lots of spots on the scalp and not much hair anymore.
no f%$#@ kidding. an acquaintance just had two basal cell carcinomas removed from his forehead, 10mm deep on the biggest one. this stuff scares the crap out of me.
I have a cycling friend who is 56 and everytime he goes to the skin guy they find more stuff to remove. He gave me a tube of Efudex (he calls it FU!) to use on some of my little spots. I'm fair-skinned and have been riding for 35 years, have some suspect spots on back, arms, and temples. However, I have no money and no health insurance, so I'm delaying seeing a Dr about it.
do you know if that is genetic or related to outdoor exposure or just luck of the draw?
I think both. I have fair skin . Think Michael Rasmussen but well fed. Freckles and I have played outside and worked too forever. 55 now. It is just my forearms, face and scalp. The rest of me is fine. A few brown spots which simple age spots and nothing to worry about. It's the red spots which became quite prominent this past summer. My older sister and father have had the same. Dad had some cancerous lesions removed. I think my mother died before it became an issue.
Yikes Andy - sorry to hear that. My wife's dad has similar issues.
Well, it is grey here most of the time, that should reduce the risk.
I got a couple of head covers from Performance a couple of years ago. They help with sun protection and sweat management. I cannot find them on the Performance website now, but here is their apparent successor: http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10054_10551_1019086_-1_400090__400090.
I decided to get these after a long ride in the same position (fighting a headwind) on a sunny day which left four red marks on the top of my un-haired head.
I wonder if the headsweats coolmax skull cap provides signficant protection.
That stuff is scary. I had a huge basal carcinoma taken off my ear this summer. It both really sucked and it scuttled my season. I have a big sombrero type hat for most stuff, but now I have to find a way to keep sun off my ears while riding. I am open to suggestions.
Andy, your issue is even more troubling. Like you I have been an outdoor guy my whole life. And I am a lot younger than you... time to cover up permanently... Good luck with it.
Good luck!
A friend of mine had to wear the sun protection arm and leg warmers last year. He didn't mind them too much.
I started wearing the arm coolers a few years back -- not all the time but on the really intensely sunny days. I liked them right away as they do feel cooling and you don't have to worry about reapplying sunscreen after a couple of hours because you've sweated so much (and getting your hands all greasy).
Efudex and also Carac creams are 5-fluorouracil used topically for superficial actinic keratoses and basal cells. they do work, but you will look worse before you look better!.
5-FU (that is F..U, not "foo") has been used IV as a standard chemotherapy drug especially for colon cancer for decades.
I am, or was, redhead. Both my parents have had barnacles cut off.
I'm not too fussed about it. The doctor said 1 in a thousand of the spots I have might turn cancerous if I do nothing. Hopefully this feud ex does the trick but I will be scabby for quite a while.
On the bike, the sun is not your friend....
I always wear doo-rag (folded handkerchief) & arm covers riding. Legs do not get as much sun so they get sunscreen. One can pull the doo-rag over the top of ears or cover ears completely on cool mornings.
A good reason, in addition to lack of traffic, to ride in the early a.m.
Strangely enough, though I'm a redhead and have lived at elevation for the majority of my life and suffered numerous sunburns on my head, arms, and legs over the years, the only things my dermatologist wanted (and did) cut out were on my torso, and that hasn't seen the sun for 35 years! One of them was in fact a melanoma -- graded out at 1a so nothing to worry about -- and it's excision left a nasty 6 inch scar on my side. I can't let my life or health insurance lapse and need to visit the dermatologist for a full body perusal every six months for the next 5 years. Your skin is worth paying attention to...
Both temples are problematic, and I go see the dermatologist in two weeks. I'm hoping for the best and fearing the worst. Can't blame it on biking. I used to play tennis a couple times a week in Texas and Louisiana with nothing but a ball cap for sun protection. Same coverage for baseball, of course. Wish I'd had parents like my wife and I: We always insisted the kids wear sun block.
I had a Basal Cell Carcinoma tumor removed from the side of my face last summer. It started out as a boil but never completely healed. It started oozing blood and became crusty looking. Finally went to my doctor (after 5-6 months) who referred me to a dermatologist. The dermatologist said it looked like a basal cell, but had to do a biopsy to confirm. A little bit scary waiting for the results. Surgery for removal was an out out patient procedure, called mohs surgery. They take layers of skin off and do biopsies until they have removed the entire growth. Total time took about 3 hours. I had ten stitches along the the left side of my nose. Tough part was 8 days off my bike. I've spent my whole life outdoors and I'm a blond with fair skin (tan easily). I healed well, can't tell I have a scar. I stopped using sunscreen years ago. I'm starting to use it again now. Basal Cell Carcinoma is non-malignant, but if the tumor is close to your eye of nose it can cause damage if not removed.
Bottom line is if you have a concern about some weird growth, don't wait, see a doctor. I was lucky.
My dentist had melanoma, on his foot. He died, about three weeks after I saw him for a check-up.
@zoot - your BC presented itself in a way similar to mine. I also had the mohs surgery. Problem was that it was on my ear so they had to knock me out and do a skin graft. Now, the ear looks fine though I have a nasty scar at the site where they harvested skin for the graft.
Any way you slice it this stuff is not fun.
P.H. the mohs surgery, compared to what I'm going through now, surgery on my gums because of infected dental implants, was a piece of cake. With the mohs, at least my health insurance covered it. Dental implants are considered experimental. Cost me one trip to Hawaii and at least two new bikes.
Funny... after the mohs, I had a big bandage on my nose and I looked like Jack Nicholson's character in China Town...
chinatown = good movie
Alas, if Goatroper were still among us, he could surely shed some light. ;-)
@laurentja - do you have a link for the arm coolers?
zoot - damn... that sounds rough. I agree that the moms, in general, is a piece of cake. Just avoid the skin graft part.
@durielk - a doo-rag configuration picture would be a great help. do you have one? I cannot see how i'd cover the ears there. i think it is going to take a while to figure out the ear coverage.
PH- I could have had a skin graft but I'm 70 years old and don't care about scars. The recovery would have been longer. I don't have a scar anyway. I had a good doc.
PA- The Two Jake's was a good flick also.
And if anyone tries to talk you into dental implants, get a second opinion...
Goodm that you made the visit to the dermatologist. Too many people wait thinking they will know it when the see it. Yes, they may but by then it could be serious.
My wife, the esthetician, has been after mee lately to apply sun block to my forehead. Like others on here my hair is getting pretty thin on top. It may be time for me to start wearing a very thin skull cap.
As to those white arm sleeves for blocking sun - AWESOME! I have a pair. Probably should wear them more often. Even invest in another set as they do get sweaty fast. But wow do they ever work well on long rides. Plus being the body-hair beast that I am they probably save me 5 to 10 watts of aero drag.
Hey Velo tech writers - future test! Skin covers for both SPF factor/protection and reducing aero drag. Which is the best overall? Or should we just apply cheap SPF 30 and call it good?
JP
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