Rituals: Safe or Sorry?

Everyone has rituals. Some are safer than others. Some are downright dangerous.

My ritual is an odd but healthy one. I get moles removed. Icky, dark brown, sometimes almost-black, moles. Irregularly shaped moles. Itchy moles. Any mole my doctor or I find to be suspicious, really. As a redhead with porcelain skin, I have no shortage of moles and freckles, meaning this ritual could go on for years. And if it must, I will let it.

My ritual is healthy, in the sense that it is preventative. Moles are made up of melanocytes, which can be cancerous. According to the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, melanocytes are necessary for making melanin, which is what makes skin tanned. Melanoma, one of three kinds of skin cancer, begins in the melanocytes in your skin. While many moles are benign (not cancerous), all moles should still be watched carefully. I have now had six moles removed in total from my body. All of these moles were benign, but abnormal, meaning they were not cancerous but had the potential to develop into skin cancer if left on my skin.

There is a downside, of course, to my hobby. Scars. Really, really nasty scars. Okay, so the scars probably aren’t as bad as I think they are. But my two latest scars, each two stitches long, currently look disgusting. Not to mention they still kind of hurt. You know, not enough to actually be painful but just enough to annoy me. As I had these moles removed from my lower leg, it did not occur to me that Capri season was just around the corner. When I complain, my mother reminds me that I am a slow healer. The two scars on my shoulder are from last summer still haven’t healed properly. They are both just one stitch long but they have bubbled up, red and angry, refusing to lie flat.

As much as I might complain about these scars and resent these scars, I still welcome them. I am okay with repeated applications of antibiotic cream to help heal the wounds; I am more than okay with the daily applications of vitamin E cream to help minimize the scars. I accept that every time I have moles removed I must spend a fortune on waterproof bandages to keep my stitches dry in the shower and free from infection. I am happy that I have a doctor that will remove a mole that is too dark, too weirdly shaped or even one that’s just too itchy. I am happy about all of it because the alternative would suck. Finding out too late that seemingly benign mole has morphed into a cancerous one because I left it too long would be heartbreaking. It is so much easier to prevent skin cancer than it is to recover from it.

Still, too many people engage in hobbies and rituals that are bad for them. Tanning comes to mind. With spring break, graduation ceremonies and prom coming up, I’m sure there are a million teens eagerly committing to a ritual of fake-and-baking every day. No one wants tan lines clashing with their 400-dollar dress. I was a teenager when indoor tanning salons became popular. I remember what it’s like. I know there is little that I can say to stop a teen from tanning. But I still have to try. We all have to try to stop teenagers from frying their skin in a machine, with only a tiny pair of little plastic goggles to protect them, because they are still young enough to change their ritual from tanning to sunscreen.

The federal government should ban anyone under the age of 18 from using tanning beds. Smoking is illegal for the under-18 set; indoor tanning is just as deadly. The only difference is that one person’s indoor tanning won’t potentially kill innocent bystanders. There are so many myths about tanning and sun damage that we can’t expect teenagers to make a rational choice, not when tanned skin is considered hot and pale skin is considered to be less than desirable. But hey, you know what else is undesirable? The scars and gouged skin that skin cancer or even potential skin cancer can leave you with. Tanning may make a 17-year-old look prettier in her prom dress, but one day, when the prom pictures are faded and the dress doesn’t fit anymore, all that girl will be left with is wrinkles, sun spots, seriously nasty leather skin, and maybe even cancer.