Sun Safety: How my Skin Cancer Scares changed my lifestyle

Design by Jodie Parris

May is a month of many awareness initiatives in the realm of health and wellness. The ones near and dear to me that you see reflected on the blog heavily are Celiac Disease and Mental Health. However, a new one has joined the party of things I advocate for and that is Skin Cancer Awareness. 

 Growing up I spent every summer outside in the sun, and got my fair share of sunburns. I remember how “laying out” and getting tan was just something you would do as part of your summer. I was 12 years old when I laid in the tanning bed for the first time, and went through two seasons in life when I laid in them heavily during my senior year of high school and college.

I remember it was the end of my first year of graduate school, while I was laying in the sun on the concreate patio of my little apartment when it hit me. I finally asked myself “what am I doing laying in the sun and never using sunscreen?”

I had an internship for the summer lined up in Orlando Florida, and knew I would be out in the sun a lot and should probably wear sunscreen more often. So I purchased an SPF 15 Body Lotion and called it a day. 

 At the start of this year (2025) I had went in for my Full Skin Exam that I have gotten every year since I moved back to North Carolina in 2017. 

Throughout my skin exams the past few years I have found out that I have a lot of atypical moles. A Majority of the atypical moles are on my back, and I have so many that they have to take pictures each year and compare the images of suspicious ones. 

The past eight years I have had four moles removed to be biopsied, all with different severities of atypical cells. 

One was on the bottom of my foot which came back normal. I freaked out so badly regarding it because of a story a coworker told me of their wife having early melanoma on a freckle on  the bottom of their foot. This was the story that got my butt into seeing a Dermatologist on the regular. 

The second spot I had removed and biopsied was a mole on my back, which came back with mild atypical cells. I actually had to return to the office six months later because they didn’t remove all of the mole, via the shave method and had to use the punch biopsy method to get it all out.

The third, was a tiny spot on my face that appeared like an acne lesion but never would heal. It would almost heal but become filled with clear fluid again. I had noticed it in the Fall of 2021, and thought it was just an acne pimple so I didn’t mention it at my yearly appointment that December.

 Friendly tip, acne lesions don’t last for months and if they do it may not be acne.  

It was around April, and two months prior to my wedding, and it just kept nagging at me to get it checked out. I was practicing my wedding makeup A LOT at this point and was just annoyed by the acne lesion that wouldn’t heal.  When I finally was able to get in to see the dermatologist she removed it and sent it off to biopsy, which was such a small sample. I remember us joking about how small it was and if they will even be able to to see it. 

However, when I got the call two weeks later they informed me it actually had precancerous cells in the sample, but assured me they got it all and will monitor the spot from here on out. This was my first real big scare with my biopsies, until this year. 

My fourth biopsy was taken in January. It was a mole that the Doctor and I, have been keeping an eye on the past few years. It had some of “ugly ducking ” signs with standing out in a sea of atypical moles, and was MUCH darker than the rest. I noticed that the color had started to become darker over the past year as well. 

She shaved it off for a biopsy, and it was the spot I was most anxious about receiving my phone call for. 

When they called a week later and asked if I had a few minutes to talk, I knew that wasn’t a good sign. 

 They told me the biopsy was benign (thank goodness) but that it showed severe atypical cells. They explained how sometimes the severe atypical moles can be hard to fully distinguish from early stage melanoma, and that there is an increased chance of it developing into melanoma if they weren’t to remove it all with clear margins, so their recommendation was for me to get  a full skin excision, which I had completed in February. 

Below are my notes from the Skin Excision process: 

• Before the procedure I got a whole circle of numbing shots, which was uncomfortable in it’s on way.
• Burning of skin and blood vessels, to control bleeding so smelt burned skin during the procedure. 
• Husband said it looked like a “slug” the amount of skin they cut out
• Sharp warm pain on the night-of once pain meds and numbing wore off. It felt like a warm knife being stabbed in my back. 
• Fell asleep in 2 minutes and slept for 8.5 hours. Woke up a few times throughout the night because I was feeling pain and needed to readjust how I was laying.  My Oura ring said my body had Major Signs of strain.
• 5 dissolvable stitches got put in that would take 4-6 months to heal (Yep I am still healing!)
• Didn’t get to shower for two days and just used body wipes. 
• Over 1K in expenses because I hadn’t met my health insurance deductible yet.

Pictures left to right: Top Left-Thumbs up before surgery, Top Middle-Numbed and ready to go, Top Right-Pressure bandage I had to leave on for two nights and why I wasn’t able to shower, Bottom Left-New beauty scar! Check out the additional biopsy site just below it, Bottom Right-All Clear report!

I share all this because this procedure (and all my biopsies) could have possibly been prevented (our reduced) if I would have practiced safer sun habits throughout my life. Habits like not laying in the tanning beds or sun, and using sunscreen on the daily basis.  To remind you all, I am only 34 at the time of this blog post writing and publishing. 

 Skin Cancer is the most common type of cancer there is, and it’s also the most preventable with sun safety awareness and measures.

10 Sun Safety tips: 

1. Familiarize yourself with signs and types of skin cancer because knowledge is power my friend.
2. Wear a Broad Spectrum SPF 30 EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yes, even in the winter time and rainy/cloudy days. Some of my favorite brands are Sun Bum, Supergoop, Eucerin, Neutrogena, and Cerave. A big argument I hear from people is in relation to the body needing to be exposed to Vitamin D , but it’s better and safer for your body to get it through nutrition and supplementation.
3. Check your sunscreen to make sure it isn’t past the expiration date, and if it is then it may be a sign you don’t use sunscreen enough. I go through a typical bottle every quarter, and that doesn’t count when my husband uses it.
4. Reapply every 2 Hours-Yep even if you are primarily inside at home or in a office. The chemicals in the sunscreen breakdown over time even when you are indoors so you need to reapply. You also get incidental sun exposure through windows.
5. Don’t forget to put sunscreen on your face, eyelids, ears, hands, and scalp.  Supergoop makes an awesome scalp powder, and eye shadow with SPF that I have used for years. I also love using a sunscreen stick to reapply on my face, or rub on my hands in the car. The two I have on rotation right now are by ELF and Neutrogena.
6. Limit your sun exposure during peak UV times, which is 10:00am-2:00pm in most places. You can check the UV Index on your phone to see how powerful the sun is that day, and which hours.
7. For the love of cheese and gluten free crackers, stay out of the dang tanning beds and don’t purposely lay in the sun to get a tan. All it does is damage your skin cells for them to change into skin cancer. Remember there is no such thing as a healthy tan, and in fact a tan is how your skin protects itself when it’s damaged. There are lots of amazing Dermatologist Influencers on Social Media, go down a rabbit hole on Instagram and learn from the experts on this.
8. If you are going to be outside, in addition to your SPF, look into wearing sun protective clothing, including hats and sunglasses. 
9. Check your skin monthly to see if any moles or freckles are changing. Take pictures if you are unsure as well. In addition if you have an acne lesion or sore that isn’t healing, it may be skin cancer. Make an appointment and get a professional to look at things.
10. Finally, make the time to get a full skin exam YEARLY! I know it’s “one more thing”, it can be expensive, but seriously getting your skin checked every year could save your life. Dermatologist need to see the skin changes over time to know when things look off. 

I hope this blog post informed and inspired you to take care of yourself and your skin in the coming summer months, and maybe scare you a little into doing so. Fingers crossed my follow up full skin exam in August is less eventful.

Until next time,