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[saffronlie]

So I decided not to go to uni today as surely I can't be expected to go back full-time immediately after having had a month off, that would be crazy, and also I was feeling sorry for myself as my skin has gone mental with sunburn, hives, eczema, acne, etc

Comments

[saffronlie]

It's ridic, but the stereotype that a tan is a healthy glow and a pre-requisite of life in Australia is really persistent here. For a lot of people it will take having themselves or someone they love diagnosed with or even die from melanoma before they take action. We've been hearing horror stories for years about how even teenagers can get skin cancer and die, but for me at least it's only in the last couple of years that my parents' and grandparents' generation have started having skin cancer problems and it's really hitting home for me, although I've ALWAYS been conscientious about it.

Ugh, that's no fun. I did wonder if any of my meds had that side effect because seriously, my knee is still red three days later and it doesn't seem normal. You do know that SPF is a factor of time, though, and not strength? It just means that you should be able to stay in the sun 15 or 25 times more than you usually would before you start burning. In my case that is about thirty seconds anyway so I don't rely too much on the SPF. It's more important to apply enough sunscreen, as to get the advertised results you're usually supposed to apply something ridiculous like one tablespoon for every square inch of skin. Apologies if you already knew all this and I'm rambling for no reason!

[pandorasblog]

I actually heard that a girl I used to be penpals with died of skin cancer not long ago. I don't know how she got it, though since I knew her through NACC there's an additional layer of weirdness of her having had Crohn's, and her nearly having died during a botched hospital test, and then something like this happening. It's been a very long time since we corresponded so I'm not cut up about it as such, but it's... odd.

Thanks for telling me that about SPF; I never actually knew that (or indeed anything about how it works)! And yeah, could be worth checking your meds' info leaflets to see if there's anything about sun hypersensitivity. Though if you're prone to worrying about stuff mentioned in leaflets (they have to mention even that hideous one-off, one-in-a-million chance that the drug makes your head fall off), you might be better asking your pharmacist.