I had my dermatologist appointment yesterday, and had to have a recurrent dysplasia removed. Four stitches later and more pain than I anticipated, I'm once again going to be careful about the sun. I wasn't very good about it last summer. It's easy to get complacent about skin care, but considering I had melanoma at 18 I'm way more susceptible to skin cancer than the average population.

I'm tired of advertising that tells people tan is more beautiful. Even if it is tan in a bottle, why do we even care so much? Fact is, I'm not going to be tan. Ever. I also figure in 10 years when you compare me to the bleach blonde tan girls, who's going to look better? I recently saw a girl out shopping, who was clearly my age or maybe a few years older, but her face was already wrinkling and she had sun spots on her face. She just didn't look very pretty, but she was tan so I guess she had that going for her. I know girls like that now who seem to have no clue what is obviously happening to their skin. They just keep on frequenting the beach and tanning beds.

I've had my share of skin issues. I've been going to a dermatologist almost ten years for various issues. My sister always tells me I'm so lucky I've never had to deal with acne, and I haven't, but I tell her at least she hasn't had to deal with the skin issues I have. My advice to young girls is just take care of your skin.