As most of you know, I LOVE to take selfies. Whether or not I post all the ones I take…Well, that’s another story. Let’s just say my phone’s storage is basically half taken up by my own face.

I have had a few moles for some years now, along with some birthmarks as well. This was nothing new to me and I was used to seeing them on my body. So, during one of my selfie-taking sprees, I noticed that a little mole that was on the very top of my forehead was more noticeable than ever before. It got me interested enough to look back to old pictures and notice that it wasn’t even there!

As you can imagine, I instantly knew what it was. I have cancer and I’m going to die. Anyone else who has anxiety, especially when it comes to ANYTHING medical can relate to that instant thought. (no, I don’t have cancer, btw.)

I went to a local dermatologist – I’ll deal with this woman in a bit – and I had them take a look. Long story short, they wanted to take a biopsy, right then and there. I have never had anything more than a tattoo needle touch my skin, and now they were about to take a piece of my head out?! The way she explained it, she made it seem like a quick and easy process. Take a small biopsy, get test results, and even if they remove it, it’ll be quick and painless. Little did I know…

Thankfully, the results came back negative for any type of cancer or Melanoma. It was an Atypical mole, which is common on people who are prone to moles and have fairer skin. So, as they said before, they would take it out and would need me to come back in.

NOW I will deal with the doctor. In the past decade I have seen internal doctors, dermatologists, gynecologists and other types of doctors. Never in my life did I meet a doctor who was so short with people, a doctor who wouldn’t slow down to explain and who set me into a panic attack over the phone, making me think that I was in danger and needed it out immediately.

After speaking to the physician assistant (really nice woman named Carla) I felt better. She explained things slowly, told me it was okay and actually made me understand. It was bad enough that I needed to have his done, but this doctor made me feel stupid on top of everything. I think she forgets that WE ARE NOT DERMATOLOGISTS. So, you saying long medical words that no one understands and then getting ANNOYED when I say I don’t know what it means, really did not make me comfortable!

The day of the procedure, they made me think (because they said so) that it would be one stich. Not SEVEN on two layers like I got. This picture below is what it looked like the day of the procedure. (this was to remove a 1/8 inch long mole)

This was a nightmare. I am getting married in April, and I look like someone attacked me with a bat. Along with constant changing of bandages, not getting it wet (or showering for two days) it also came with a giant headache. For two weeks straight. Also, as an added bonus, I went through the most excruciating pain I have ever felt when she stabbed my head with the needles for anesthesia.

Regardless of how rude and how terrible at communicating the doctor was, she did a good job and was able to remove everything. The stiches were removed a few weeks later and it is actually healing really well! It has already lightened up so much! As you can imagine I was (still am) terrified that this will ruin my wedding pictures that are costing me thousands of dollars…

Now:

This was a very scary experience. For those of you who don’t know me too well, I do not handle medical things well at all. I get very worried, very anxious, I panic and I get worried that something is wrong. A lot of people have the same experience. This was a very big learning experience for me. Not just about how to detect things that change size on my body (which we should all be doing) but also how to handle situations that are scaring me to death.

I’ve also learned how important sun protection really is. I’m very pale so I always put sunscreen on when I went to the beach, pool or any outing where I was in the sun for more then a couple hours. But now I know that it really is important to put sunscreen on everyday, even on those cloudy days that you think won’t matter! I started to do my research about what time of sunscreens are the best and the strongest so I can have peace of mind from now on.

The sunscreen I use is Blue Lizard Australian sunscreen

The only I don’t like about it is that you have to reaalllllyyyy rub it in or you’ll look like a ghost!

A easy tip to wearing sunscreen everyday on you face is using a foundation that has spf in it!

Let me know if you’ve gone through something similar and how you felt!

❤