Mayonnaise

Being Irish and having a father that died from melanoma I am more sensitive to having my skin checked than most.

Had a spot removed from my arm last week that came back as “pre cancer.” Doctor said it’s nothing to worry about but that it clearly was skin damage caused by the sun.

And the way I get most of my exposure to the sun is riding the bike.

Please be careful out there and have your skin checked once a year. Wear sunscreen. If you have any spots on your skin that are new or even remotely questionable, schedule a visit to the dermatologist and have it checked. Early detection will save your life.

SilentShifter

Very good advice and I agree with you completely. Thanks for the concern. My regards about your father.

Doggus

One of the best sunblocks on the market

Neutrogena UVA/UVB blocker

twocoasttb

+1

I'm 40, fair-skinned, have had lots of sun damage, and started paying for it three weeks ago when I had a small squamous cell carcinoma removed from the side of my nose. Here's the aftermath; let it be another reminder to use sunscreen:

AnthonyG

Melanoma's are actualy more common in Ireland where you don't get a lot of sun and they usualy apear in area's that don't get any sun exposure at all. The doctor was being honest when he said you had nothing to worry about. See, https://www.second-opinions.co.uk/cancer_index.html

There's no evidence that sunscreens provide any protection at all and in fact there is strong correlation (not evidence but a reason to do some research) that the use of sunscreens is associated with the rise of skin cancer.

Whats benificial is to gradualy build up your sun exposure so that you build up a natural tan over a period of time without burning and maintain it. A diet rich in saturated fats is helpful and diets rich in polyunsaturated fats is harmful.

Regards, Anthony

Flippin Sweet

So my choices are skin cancer or heart attack?? Damn.

dstrong 

twocoasttb - I feel your pain...literally...have had 5 similar procedures...3 on the head (1 above the hairline!) and one on each temple...woops...6...and one on the arm like the OP. I put out a similar message after the one on my arm was excised just before Christmas.

Regular trips to the dermatologist will hopefully keep me ahead of the curve. Protection today pays off years into the future. Clothing is most effective but even some clothing doesn't provide as high an SPF as you would think.

jotconnor

Can you give me an example of what foods both these fats come in? I'm super white and I live in Phoenix Arizona. we get 100% sunny days about 350 days out of the year. I always ride after the sun goes down. We just finished like a 150 day drought with NO rain what so ever. I'm gonna start riding with people during the day so I will start to get beat with sun. I've never had a tan pretty much at all and I'm 21 but my father has had cancerous stuff removed form his arm at the age of 50. He was always very tan as a kid so I was assuming I was at less risk becuase of less sun exposure. TRUE?

AnthonyG

Actualy saturated fats are good alround. They protect against heart disease as well. See https://www.westonaprice.org/

If you've read any scientific evidence that saturated fats are harmful then there are a lot of scientists who would like to see it because up till now its been sorely lacking.

Its a case of you are what you eat actualy. If you consume a diet rich in saturated fats then your skin is made up of saturated lipids which are UV stable. If you consume a diet rich in polyunsaturated fats your skin is made with polyunsaturated lipids and their highly UV reactive. Active components of sunscreens are known to be involved in free radical damage.

Regards, Anthony

AnthonyG

If you have a look at my reference it will explain a lot. Melanoma's specifically aren't associated with sun exposure and their the deadly skin cancers. Other types of skin cancer are associated with sun exposure but their by and large not deadly and they can be easily removed.

Saturated fats are butter,dairy fats in general, animal fats in general, palm oil and coconut oil.

The number one polyunsaturated fat that you realy should avoid is vegetable oil. Refined vegetable oils are just nasty. Fresh fruit/vegetables/nuts contain enough natural polyunsaturated fats to meet your needs.

My father is of Irish descent and had skin cancers burnt off him as long as I remember but it was colon cancer that got him and that's associated with a lack of sun exposure. I'm a bit luckier because my mother is of European descent and I've seemed to have inherited her better skin but still my father died from a cancer associated with a lack of sun exposure.

In the harsh Australian summer sun I will ride before 10.30 am or after 5 pm. Also during the Autumn and Spring I will maintain or build up my exposure. Winters cold where I am but I will still get some exposure from being out there and NOT wearing sunglasses. Actually I don't wear sunglasses at all.

If I was going to do midday summer riding I would be fully covered with long sleeve riding gear, long fingered gloves and a legionaries helmet cover but honestly riding between 6-7 am and 10 am on a summer day is healthy and a good opportunity to gradually build up some sun exposure.

Regards, Anthony

PedalMasher

damn! I got a nasty arm burn on Sunday's ride. First time the sun was powerful enough to cause a burn and i forgot the sunscreen. Thanks for the reminder for the start of the season!

DocRay

Anthony, everything in that post ^^^ is wrong and fabricated. Next, you'll be telling us the benefits of smoking.
The highest incidence of skin cancers are in areas of US with high UV index. The more you expose your skin to UV, the higher your chance of triggering melanoma. A "natural tan" will not protect you, there is no differnce between 'natural' tanning and sunbed tanning , they are both the same wavelength of UV light.

The reason why there is a increased incidence of cancer among sunscreen users is because sunscreen users do not use the products properly, and they are exposed to more UV because of behaviour like tanning on a beach or on a tanning bed. If you tan, this is skin response to UV damage. UV damages DNA in skin cells and will lead to melanoma, or at the very least, skin that looks like an old catcher's mitt at 40.

Sunscreens need to be applied continuously, not just once before a long ride, and the opaque sunscreens with titanium oxide are the best.

bormoglot

That contradicts ANY other source of information. Everyone from the WeatherNetwork to my doctor are telling me that I have to wear sunblock to prevent cancer.

DocRay

Again, total bull****.

Lipids are not genetic material, DNA is. According to this nonsense, you should use butter as a sunscreen.
Dieticians are promoting some natural saturated fats because hydrogenated synthetic fats are not healthy.

If you want to take deep bong hits and believe this crap, that's fine, but don't disseminate misinformation.
You are completely misinterpreting that website.

AnthonyG

There's a realy important distinction here between melanoma's which are the deadly skin cancers and other types of skin cancers which are common but not deadly. Yes non-deadly skin cancers are associated with increased sun exposure but the deadly melanoma's aren't. See my reference.

By the way I live in sunny Australia, I'm 41 and I don't have any skin cancers yet. Mindyou I've never been a sun worshiper and I DO cover up or avoid midday summer sun but otherwise I'm not afraid of sun exposure.

Regards, Anthony

AnthonyG

Science please. Your simply repeating the current state of dietry dogma. Actualy coconut oil makes a good skin balm but generaly I'm refering to consuming saturated fats.

Regards, Anthony

CastIron

It's amazing. I show up to a very sunny 75 mile group ride this weekend. Out of ~50 people present, I seemed to be the only one slathering on sunscreen. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law looks like a piece of old leather and my mother hopes to simply live another two years to be a skin cancer anomoly (most folks with her diagnosis don't live 5 years). That and the fact that cycling tan lines are, frankly, a bit wierd.

Mayonnaise

I know nothing about high fat diets fighting cancer or a sunscreen conspiracy. I don’t want to know. I don’t care about alternative treatments. Don’t even want to spend the time to think about it. I won’t read a single article.

What I do know is I have one of the best Doctors in Chicago who is massively educated and has years of experience treating skin cancer, who holds a patent for surgical tools he invented. He knows me and knows my family history.

If he tells me to wear sunscreen, then by God, I’m wearing sunscreen, It’s not like we’re talking about breeding guppies, we’re talking about my life. End of argument.

WD_40

Anthony, I agree with everything you've said so far. It completely flies in the face of 'modern medicine', but most of the medical industry's are flawed to begin with.

It's not the sun that causes skin cancer, it's the sun reacting to rancid (vegetable) oils in your skin that causes skin cancer. Improve your diet, reduce your risk.

https://www.newstarget.com/001264.html

DocRay

Look, I'm a cancer researcher and I can quote all the science you want, but this would be pointless because you clearly don't understand it. Maybe you should concede that there are qualified people that are focused just on this problem for most of their lives. Don't dare take an ignorant cavalier attitude about "lethal" versus "non-lethal" cancers, one can easily become the other.

Coconut oil is the worst thing to use in the sun, it cools the skin and provides no UV protection, it actually leads to faster and more severe burning and UV damage. I'm amazed at how countries spend billions of research dollarswith good conclusions, yet millions of morons still smoke and lie in the sun all day.

At 41, you are at a low risk age for melanoma, but if you don't smarten up, 50-60 could be a big problem.

fsor

The real downside of melanoma is that generally it kills the fools after they have procreated.

jfmckenna

^^ What the hell is that suposed to mean ? ^^

Mayo,
I'm a frekled blue eyed mic myself. I dress like an Arab when I go to the beach. On the bike I wear sun screen all the time. I think hats and long sleeves are the best though.

fsor

Please forgive....that was very much out of line. I get very angry when someone suggests that uv exposure has no connection to Melanoma and that we all need to get a good tan. Melanoma is preventable, to a great extent, and those of us that had serious uv exposure before we knew better need to be vigilant. Keep a very close eye on moles and freckles for changes in shape and color...

worker4youth

I bet there is also a statistical correlation with more use of sunscreen than no use at all, because naturally users of sunscreen will spend more time outdoors. This doesn't mean that the use of sunscreen itself is more prone to skin cancer. Correlation by itself is a poor proof of causation.

worker4youth

So, just how bad is it to stay out in the sun for 6 hours a week cycling, with an application of sunscreen?