Magnificent News: Bold School Lesson 8: Get the skin-ny on your spots

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Approach life after 50 with curiosity and enthusiasm.

(Alla Dreyvitser/The Washington Post)

By Suzette Moyer

Bold School Lesson 8: Get the skin-ny on your spots

Back in the 1970s, no one warned me that sunbathing could cause bumps, spots and possibly even skin cancer. Or maybe I just wasn't listening when I lathered baby oil on my skin at the beach. Even into the late '80s, I was using SPF 15, at most.

In 1992, my brother-in-law, Steve, was diagnosed with melanoma near his eye. He attributed it to years of being outdoors in Daytona Beach, Fla.

After that, my husband and I started scheduling annual dermatology appointments where we would often get suspicious moles removed. Luckily, they were always benign (not harmful), and the only pain was from the numbing shot the doctor injected before he froze off the mole or sliced the skin.

But how do you know what's what between the annual checks?

"There is a 'ABCDE' mnemonic that dermatologists use to educate people on potentially abnormal skin lesions," said Agnes Chang, medical director at Integrated Dermatology in Washington, D.C.

"A" stands for asymmetry
"B" for border irregularity
"C" for color variations
"D" for diameter bigger than a pencil eraser (6 millimeters)
"E" for evolving or changing spot

"If a spot has any of these features," Chang said, "it's important to seek a dermatologist to have the skin lesion evaluated."

The older I got, the more spots and bumps I started noticing. Most of them were on my back; my daughter called them barnacles. I was self-conscious and usually wore a T-shirt over my swimsuit. Now that I'm older, I have:

Age spots, a.k.a. liver spots. The technical term is lentiges, and they stem from severe sunburns early in life. Why are they called liver spots? Dunno. They have nothing to do with the liver.
Red spots or cherry angiomas. These collections of blood vessels have a reddish appearance.
More barnacles or seborrheic keratosis. These round, raised, dark patches are typically harmless.
Faded freckles. They can somehow look like they have meshed into one big body freckle.

If the appearance of any of those bothers you, ask the dermatologist at your annual check what you can do to minimize them.

I'm not embarrassed by the spots on my face or hands anymore. Getting older means gaining confidence in how I look and present myself. I smile a lot, so "laugh lines" don't bother me. (And I certainly won't give up laughing!) On weekends, I rarely wear makeup to give my face a break. Stress is a big factor for wrinkles, and neither of those are going away!

I have learned to live with the blemishes on my body but take steps to prevent more from popping up.

I use L'Oreal age perfection face cream with SPF 15 plus Maybelline BB face cream with SPF 30. Most makeup lines have BB (beauty balm), CC (conceal and correct) and DD (disguise and diminish) creams that moisturize and protect from sun. Sunscreen should be part of a daily skin care regimen for all adults, Chang said.

On beach vacations, I stay out of the sun between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and use lotion with an SPF of 50 or higher.

I photograph any spot that looks unusual to see if it looks the same in two or three months. There's also digital mole mapping, a new procedure some dermatologists offer that tracks and stores photographic information about moles on your skin.

What I used to think of as flaws are now just interesting parts of me. With age comes acceptance of things we cannot change. Maybe someday, I'll even stop coloring my hair.