Susan’s (almost) skin cancer chronicle, part 4

Tonight I met a melanoma survivor.

A man, mid-40s. We were chatting in a bar, this past August. He asked about my hat, his wife asked about my sun shirt.

He said he’d had skin cancer, then he rolled up his sleeve to show me: A long, laddered scar that spanned his elbow and wound its way across his bicep. He’s got, like me, hundreds of moles. He’s had, unlike me, more than 30 biopsies. He is, I’m glad to report, one year away from the 5-year mark, when he will be deemed cancer-free. I hope he makes it. He’s sure he will.

And he confirmed – as if I could possibly disbelieve my eyes – what my surgeon said: There is no cure for melanoma. They cut. And cut. And cut. So deep. So wide. So long.

It’s the so long that gets to me:

Melanoma is the least common but the most deadly skin cancer, accounting for only about 4% of all cases but 79% of skin cancer deaths.

For 2002, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 53,600 new cases of melanoma in the United States and 7,400 deaths from the disease. Melanoma is currently the sixth most common cancer in American men and the seventh most common in American women. The median age at diagnosis is between 45 and 55, although 25% of cases occur in individuals before age 40. It is the second most common cancer in women between the ages of 20 and 35, and the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 25 to 30.

What about sunscreen?
There is an ongoing debate about sunscreen:

Yes, it’s necessary to protect yourself from the sun.

Yes, it will keep your face looking youthful, longer.

Yes, there appears to be evidence that some sunscreens are worse than others. Here’s a list of products that might help guide your decision.

I wear sunscreen (minimum SPF 15)  myself, every day. For me, the risk of wearing a possibly harmful lotion is less than the reality of the surgeon’s blade.