There I was in the Palm Beach Dermatology Group office in West Delray for my quarterly visit to "zap city" last week in a frigid examining room without my shirt or pants—just underwear, protected against prying eyes and cold air by a large white paper sheet handed to me by the nurse.

Dr. Adam S. Plotkin enters and examines me carefully limb by limb, front and back torso, face and scalp using a magnifying glass.

“Give me the liquid nitrogen container,” he orders the nurse, as he spots several minute, sun afflicted spots. "Zap," "zap" the liquid nitrogen spray freezes and burns away offending small lesions.

“These things didn’t appear over the past few months,” he explains. “This is the result of severe sunburns when you were a child and a teen.”

My joyous youth at Coney Island has grown to haunt me as a post-teen senior.

He rubs a finger over a brown spot on my left temple. “We’ll have to take a biopsy of this,” he mutters. “I’ll be right back,” and exits the icy room. Who can blame him? I’m shivering. He wants to warm up in the hallway. The nurse realizes his exit is her signal to inject the site with Novocain. Five minutes later he returns, takes a double edged razor blade and slices off the brown spot, dropping it into a specimen bottle for laboratory testing. He picks up an electric cauterizing tool and seals the wound to the odor of burning flesh—mine. “You can get dressed now,” he says. “I’ll see you in three months,” shakes my hand and is off to an office full of waiting patients.

The nurse puts a small bandage on the wound and gives me a sheet of instructions which reads: “You can remove the bandage tomorrow before you shower. Wash the area well with soap and water and pat dry. Cleanse the wound with a mixture of half peroxide and half water with Q tips. Pat dry gently. Apply Polysporin ointment. Do this twice a day. When you see a dry scab, discontinue treatment. Avoid swimming in chlorinated and ocean water until healed.”

Now I have to wait two weeks to phone the lab and obtain test results on the specimen. In two weeks this wound will have healed beautifully, however if they have found cancer cells, I will have to return to Dr. Plotkin’s associate, Dr. Nancy L. Marchell, the Mohs Surgery specialist for deeper surgery. More about this lady’s technique in a future post.

There are basic steps we can all take—especially for our children and grandchildren—to lower the risk of non-melanoma skin cancer:
Limit or avoid intense sunlight and practice safe sun tips, i.e.
…Avoid sun between 10 AM and 4 PM.
…Look for shade, especially mid-day when sun’s rays are strongest.
…Apply the “shadow rule” and teach it to your children and grandchildren: if your shadow is shorter than you, the sun’s rays are at their strongest. Seek shade.
…Cover up with protective clothing to protect as much skin as possible when you’re in the sun. Select comfortable clothing with tightly woven fabrics.
…Use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or higher. Apply generously and reapply after swimming, toweling dry of perspiring. Use sunscreen even on hazy or overcast days.
…Cover your head with a wide-brimmed hat that shades your face, ears and neck. If you wear a baseball cap, protect your ears and neck with sunscreen.
…Wear sunglasses with 99% to 100% UV absorption giving the best possible protection for your eyes.

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