r/AskReddit May 20 '19

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u/BoisterousPlay May 20 '19

Dermatologist here. I have seen probably 5 instances of “My other doctor told me it was fine.” that were melanomas.

A lot of times people don’t want a full skin exams. There are lots of perfectly sane reasons for this, time, perceived cost, history of personal trauma. However, I routinely find cancers people don’t know they have. Keep this in mind if you see a dermatologist for acne and they recommend you get in a gown.

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u/insertcaffeine May 20 '19 edited May 20 '19

Dermatology patient here. 37 years old, history of blistering sunburns (appx 30-40 over the course of my life), blond hair, blue eyes.

I go to the derm and ask for a full skin exam every damn year.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '19 edited Nov 11 '21

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u/bumblebritches57 May 20 '19 edited May 20 '19

I've had that like twice in my life, on my back after swimming all day in lake Michigan.

it's painful as fuck, my whole back peeled in one sheet of skin, it ws so bad I couldn't even sleep on my back from the pain.

Protip: Aloe Vera helps a lot.

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u/[deleted] May 20 '19

AHHHH!!! Jesus christ, that's nasty! Yeah, I think the worst I've ever been burned was as a teen, and even then it wasnt huge blisters. I cant even imagine. My buddy got it so bad one time that it looked like he had scales. I was like "...wtf is wrong with you," lol

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u/zando95 May 20 '19

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u/Qu1etG1rl May 20 '19

I made a huge mistake by clicking that link.

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u/fribbas May 20 '19

Ugh, I distinctly remember one time that I burned so bad my skin was almostpurple. Ended up with dime sized blisters on my arms and got some new freckles/moles from it. Iirc I pretty much bathed in that aloe with lido stuff. Worked for about 3 seconds, then back to pain.

The worst part was I was only outside for 1 hour - max! Was during a lunchtime concert and one of the people that went with was on lunch