Reply #67: I see my dermatologist 2 to 3 times a year to be zapped.Melanin-challenged people are like that!

[Hekate]

It's almost always "sun damage," "actinic keratoses" (same thing), or "pre-cancerous." The whole point is to get those spots taken care of before they turn into cancer.

Once in awhile my doc will biopsy something, but he can usually tell what it is as he removes it because he wears special magnifying attachments on his glasses and he has a well-trained eye.

Twice it's been a small cancer or cancerous tumor (I thought the latter was an ingrown hair or zit); but never melanoma, which is the real killer.

I'm not a WASP like Dubya, but am from an even more fair-skinned tribe, the Irish. The visits to the dermatologist are just part of my health-care routine, as skin cancer runs in my family.

Hekate