Cancer Diary: How to Spot Skin Cancer
I noticed a new brown spot on my face near my eye. It looked like an aging thing since, well, I am aging and into the years that are considered "getting on in years." Nothing -- and everything -- seemed unusual about it. It just did not seem right or feel right -- and it itched a bit. I don't know if that is because it annoyed me prompting me to scratch it perhaps too often. So, I checked with the dermatologist. "Nothing to worry about," she said but decided to take a biopsy, anyway. She did a slice and a puncture. Now, doctors do not like to work on me the first time (once they know me, no problem) because I am allergic to local painkiller so everything has to be done the grin-and-bear-it way. "Well," the doc said upon learning that, "This will be uncomfortable." She was right, but I held very still and remained very quiet -- did not want her to slip near my eye because of some noise I might make. The doc sent the tissue off to a lab and ...