Lesion of merit

The Telegraph reports that new research shows that skin cancer on the scalp is more deadly than any other kind. People who have lesions on their scalp or neck are twice as likely to die within five years as people who have lesions on their arm or leg.

It's not that skin cancer on the scalp is so common; it isn't. It's that, by the time anyone notices it, it's probably further along.

When I was in seeing the dermatologist about my rash, I had him give me a head-to-toe, stem-to-stern, inspection. Which I had never had before. I had a few things in particular that I wanted him to look at, but none of them looked sinister to him. And he did spend quite a bit of time going through my hair, looking at my scalp. He said he had found one scalp cancer in his career, on the head of a woman with a full head of hair. He did not tell me how that turned out. He also said he had one fellow with a skin cancer on the sole of his foot, which he said was the oddest place he had ever found one. He didn't exactly say, but it sounded like that fellow did not have a happy outcome. I got the bottoms of my feet inspected, too.

I would say, if you've never had such an inspection, and you are an adult of a certain age, you might want to go in and get looked over. It did not take long, and did not hurt.

Posted: Mon - April 21, 2008 at 05:54 PM

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Lesion of merit

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