No fun in the sun Part 1 (BCC)

Considering it's summer time and alot of people tan, I just thought i'd remind everyone that UV radiation can be very harmful!
UV exposer can lead to premature aging and wrinkles and can even cause cataracts and snow blindness and other skin conditions like solar keratosis where the skin starts over producing keratin to toughen up to protect it's self(skin feels like leather). But the most harmful side effect of sunbathing is cancer!! 


Basal Cell Carcinoma
 Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of cancer. There's about a million new cases each year. BCC is a malignant tumor that begins as a papule(inflamed solid elevation of the skin) and grows in the basal layer of the epidermis, becoming a crater that erodes, crusts and bleeds.
 The SUN is one of the biggest causes of BCC. The sun is 90% responsible for skin cancers. Basal cell carcinoma is most seen in the sun exposed areas like face, ears, neck, scalp and shoulders.

The sun damage responsible for BCC cancer usually happens years(10-40 years) before the cancer even begins.


People who sunburn easily, usually fair skin have a higher chance then darker skin of getting BCC.
Places closer to the equator have a higher UV index so they have a higher chance of getting BCC
You also have a higher risk of getting it if there's family history.

People who get basal cell carcinoma once, are more likely going to get more. Often the second one will be close to where the other spot has been.

Sometimes BCC can resemble skin conditions like psoriasis or eczema. But there are five common characteristics that are seen more often, usually two or more of these characteristics will be present.
Some of these characteristics are:

An Open Sore

Most common on the chest, shoulders,
arms and legs. Sometimes the patch

might crusts, itch or bleed.

A reddish patch/ irritated area

Most common on the chest, shoulders, arms or legs.

 Sometimes the patch might crust, itch or hurt

 

A shiny bump

Usually a round bump that protrudes above the surface of the skin. It can be pink, red, white, tan, black, brown or translucent. Sometimes it can be confused with a mole.

A pink growth

 

A slightly elevated bump that has a crusted center.

It will slowly grow and tiny blood vessels may come
to the surface

A scar-like area

Can be white, yellow or waxy and has poorly defined borders. The skin looks shiny and taunt, this is a sign that small roots are there, which makes the tumor larger then it appears on the surface.





Prevention and treatment

Stop sunbathing or going to tanning beds. Even if you don't burn and go red, you're still causing skin damage. Wear SPF 15 or higher everyday. Even on a day with overcast, the UV radiation can still penetrate through the clouds.

Surgery is the only way to remove basal cell carcinoma. Fortunately there are a couple different types of surgery that can be preformed to remove the cancer. The surgery will leave a scar, there is no way of removing BCC without leaving that darn scar.
  
Different types of surgery


Electrodessication and curettage: The cancer is burned and removed with a sharp instrument.
Cryosurgery: Freezing the cancer to kill it.
Excision: The cancer is cut out, along with some healthy tissue also.
Micro graphic surgery: The cancer is also cut out along with some healthy tissue, then the doctor will use a microscope to see if there's any remaining cancer cells.
Laser surgery: A beam of light is used to remove the cancer.

If you have a new growth somewhere on you're body always see a dermatologist about it. And always wear sunscreen, SPF 15 or more!!

Hope this helped and comments and questions are always appreciated

                                           Sleepy Flower

confussion between skin types and skin conditions

When people come to me and say, "my skin type is sensitive or dehydrated" that's not really the case. These are skin condidtions that any skin type can have. A person with sehboric, oily or dry(skin types) can all have redness of the skin(congested/sensitive), dehydrated(Transepidermal water loss) and be mature.

To get a good look at the skin type we must first treat the condition.

Ex Client presents tight pores, along with congested redness
 My skin analysis would be dry with erythrosis(congested redness).

I'd treat the erythrosis first with a decongesting treatment(to reduce the redness) followed by a nourishing treatment(make skin supple not dry)


  Questions and comments are always appreciated                                          
                                                                           Sleepy Flower

Can a teabag be used as a nail wrap?

There are three different types of nail wraps manicurists use, fiberglass, silk and linen. With acrylic it can be sculpted on the nail with a metal cone and elongated to give you artificial nails. Applied to the nail itself, it can be used to repair brittle, broken or split nails.



The point of this, is to see if teabags can be used as a nail wrap, not to give you longer nails but to strengthen them and repair.
All I needed was a Orly top 2 bottom, color of choice, toothpick, teabag(with no tea inside) and pen
 
 
 

You can clearly see where my nail is broken :( Now I am going to put the teabag wrap on my complete nail bed, I would suggest doing this for brittle and weak nails to make them stronger. But for a crack or a chip like this I would only put a piece to mask only the crack.
 

I took the tea bag and traced the outline of my nail and cut it out. Put a base coat on the nail and gently put the tea bag on over with the toothpick. I left the teabag a a little longer then my nail to show you. Being my first time using teabags I wasn't sure how much base coat to put before, in this picture I didn't put enough and didn't smooth out the air bubbles with the toothpick.

After I used the cuticle nippers to cut away the excess, it is already looking better

The color I used is Essie mademoiselle. A light shade to show that unlike the linen wraps, you don't have to use the dark lacquers to hide it.

Conclusion: I found it worked. It lasted on my nail for 4 days until it started to peel off a little at the free edge(Keep in mind I left air bubbles, this can cause lacquer not to last as long). So I used acetone and it came off right away. The big tear wasn't gone but it held my nail together and no one noticed. If you keep doing this to you're nail i'm sure it would give your nail enough time to grow so you can file that tear or split away, and it would keep weak brittle nails from breaking anymore then it is. You're nail also gets to breath under tea bags unlike fiberglass.

Comments are always appreciated

                                                                                                                Sleepy Flower