Photo: IG: @iamBrianFink
If you live in Florida, you already know how amazing it is being in the Sunshine State. But that means it’s EXTRA important we look after our skin! Let me preface this blog with it is very important to have your skin checked regularly, especially if you spend a lot of time outside like I do. And if I’m not mistaken, most insurance actually takes care of an annual dermatology check, so look into that!
About a month ago, I noticed a spot on my shoulder that hadn’t been there before. I was due for an annual skin checkup, so I figured I would go have it looked at. Little did I know that would lead to a chunk of my back being cut out. (See the photo of the removed skin below)
When the dermatologist was doing my checkup, she noticed a small spot in the middle of my back. Obviously that’s an area that I don’t see a lot or really pay attention to, so I didn’t notice it. But it concerned her enough to not only send the spot on my shoulder off for testing, but also that area. And thank God she did.
When I got the test results back, the spot on my shoulder that I was concerned about was nothing. But the spot she was concerned about on my back turned out to be “severely atypical junctional melanocytic neoplasm”, which is fancy words for not being melanoma YET, but a severe chance of becoming it. So now I had to have surgery to remove a bigger area, to make sure we got all of it. Which I did. And am now on a schedule of getting checked every three months for a year, then twice a year to be safe.
So again, before I post the photo of the chunk of skin that was removed (WARNING: stop scrolling here if you don’t wanna see it lol), PLEASE make sure to get your skin checked regularly. You never know, and it’s best to be safe than sorry!
(ONE LAST WARNING… IF YOU GET SQUEAMISH EASILY, STOP SCROLLING!)
This was the chunk of skin removed from my back: