When was your last Skin Cancer check??

By now, most of us have seen the photograph of 27 year old Tawny Willoughby, the girl who's Facebook post went viral because of her Skin Cancer selfie.

Tawny was a typical teenager who went tanning (like most teens) to get a base tan before a trip, during the winter months (to avoid looking pasty-white) and before Prom's, Homecoming's and Weddings.  Willoughby said it was "normal to tan 4-5 days a week without thinking about the future or skin cancer then".

Unfortunately, at the age of 21, she was diagnosed with skin cancer and continues to get checks every 6-12months and each visit, she has at least 1 skin cancer lesion removed.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.  Exposure to tanning beds increases the risk of Melanoma, the deadliest form of Skin Cancer, according to the AAD.  The AAD also reports that more than 419,000 skin cancer cases diagnosed each year are linked to indoor tanning beds.

Read the rest of the CNN article

Now my question to you is when was YOUR last Dermatology appointment for a Skin Cancer check??

If you've never scheduled an appointment, do so immediately!!  There are hundreds in your area and I'm happy to pass my local Dermatologist info to you.  

I finally went this past summer for my first checkup.  Growing up in Chicago, my family frequently went to Florida over Thanksgiving, Mexico for Spring Breaks and spent the summers at my grandparents pool.

Sunscreen was NOT an option then and because I have olive skin, I rarely burned, so my mother never worried about applying sunscreen on me.

I will never forget the smell of Hawaiian Tropic Oil (with an SPF 2) that my mother swore by.  When I see it in her sunscreen bag, I yell at her.

Lastly, how old is your sunscreen??  Do you have bottles in your closet or pool/beach bag from last summer or even longer??  If so, throw it away!!!  The sunscreen ingredients are no longer effective or worse yet, can cause irritation or skin inflammation if you use these expired products.

As always, please feel free to email me with any questions or check out my website to know more about my facial services and how I work with clients internally to improve the way they look and feel on inside as well as outside.