I know that two related health blogs in a row is an odd coincidence but sometimes that is how life happens. So, some of you might of noticed my dermatologist appointments that are listed on my Myspace page in the past few months. I started to go to the dermatologist initially because I had a slightly raised mole in my bikini line. I kept cutting it when I would shave and eventually some scar tissue built up. It wasn’t exactly model friendly so I went to have it removed. The doctor removed the scar tissue but not the mole. Not sure why but that is the way it happened. I had an overall exam and he wanted to remove about 10 more moles that had black in them in different places of my body. I went to quite a few appointments to get this done and all my results came back class 2 which is abnormal but fine if removed. Well, the one on my bikini line started to give me problems again and I went back to have it removed. I came back a week later to have the stitch removed and the results had come back class 3. Now class 4 is melanoma so it is a little bit more serious than I thought my results would be. There was nothing odd about the mole itself to the unaided eye. It just so happened where it was located caused it to be in the way. I was surprised when my dermatologist told me that 1 in 20 melanoma’s occur in the groin where there is no sun exposure. Really? Why have I never read this before? You would think that that occurrence is high enough for it to be talked about. Who ever thinks about looking for odd moles in places that don’t get sun exposure? Anyways, I am not thrilled but I guess it could be worse. They have to remove the surrounding skin to make sure the abnormality has not spread. I am looking at 3 to 5 stitches. My doctor said that I am genetically predisposed for melanoma. I never thought I would be with olive skin and all. It definitely makes me look more closely at my body now and I guess the point is so should you.
Tags: melanoma, skin cancer
August 6, 2008 at 6:10 am |
Aria, I never knew the bikini line is susceptible to melanoma! I always heard that one’s eyelids were most prone to UV damage. I did a quick stint in a UV-induced DNA damage lab (aka melanoma), but I never thoroughly looked into the epidemiology of melanoma and various skin zones. In your case, I imagine there is not much you can do to prevent the possible unknown from happening, except for routine check ups. And for melanoma, definitely every 6 months I would say. A malignant melanoma diagnosis can run wild quickly. Not to scare you or anything. But it seems like you are doing exactly what you should be doing.
And your doc didn’t give any reason for your being pre-disposed to melanoma? I mean it’s not like you are a fire, red-head with freckles.
I wonder if you could be screened for a polymorphism in your DNA that would pre-dispose you to melanoma. I wouldn’t know, but a bit or research on pubmed might help.
Heather
August 6, 2008 at 7:26 am |
Wow.., this is something.
And yes, your right, we humans should pay more attention to our bodies.
Most people see that their is something wrong with their body, and think “Hey, this will be over in a view days”.
something bad could come from it, unless you know what you have, because you already had it checked.
It is also strange that the doc didn’t remove the mole in the first place maybe it wouldn’t had been so much grown, or maybe it already was an class 3.
But that’s when we in Holland say “Achteraf kijk je een koe in zn kont” (translated: After you look a cow in is behind). Witch means, that after you always wonder, “what if”.
Well.., hope it will be fine after the surgery.
Good luck girl, and hang in their, x
August 6, 2008 at 8:36 am |
Oh no, this sounds very serious!
Glad you found out about the class 3 by time, so it can be removed before it get`s worse. You don`t expect story`s like this from someone looking as healthy as you do.
I wish you well.
August 6, 2008 at 10:24 am |
That’s some scary stuff. Did the problem mole have any of the usual warning signs?
Guess this is worthwhile reminder that anything of doubt is worth asking a doctor.
August 6, 2008 at 10:31 am |
Gosh Aria ..I am really sorry to hear about this ..this information is really interesting to know…. I like most I guess… thought that you would find this either on your legs or arms or face …areas that are more exposed to the sun as you tend to think thats the main area where you would be most in danger of finding this but I think its like a lot of cancers… they say that some people carry the cancer gene in their body that makes them more likely to get cancer …but your blog makes us sit up and take notice that we should all be careful and check our bodies as you just never know ..they say to use sunscreen , or stay out of the sun , dont go on sunbeds …do you think that this just keeps an already dangerous situation at bay and the person would end up at this point someday regardless ..just like people who dont always smoke get lung cancer ..I guess we just have to try and look after ourselves as good as we can …but you are right there should be more info on this as I have never heard that more cases are found in the groin area than any others ..thank you for bringing this serious subject to our attention ….and I wish you well with your on going treatment .
Love Vivienne x
August 6, 2008 at 12:37 pm |
Speaking as a fan – and for selfish reasons – I’ll say “Whew!!! That was close…”
But I gotta say – as a fellow biped…it’s relieving to know this was caught in time. Over 62 thousand people came up with Melanoma this year so far – over 8000 are no longer with us. Cancer – in any way shape or form is a very scary thing and that fear can be quite powerful in its effect. Thankfully you caught it in time and had the presence of mind to not just notice but act on something odd that most people probably would ignore.
But – good for you and thank God it’s nothing more serious.
Stay well and continued success!!!
August 6, 2008 at 12:57 pm |
Hi Aria,
The previous bloggers have said it all. All I can add is my sympathy and best wishes.
Good that you caught it early; brave and honest of you to shiare it with us on this blog so that others can learn from your experience. That’s sweet of you. Thanks.
Take care,
Lots of love,
Andy
XXX
August 6, 2008 at 2:38 pm |
That is very frightening. I am glad it was caught in time. This reminds me about other ailments that friends’ family members have contracted. I have witnessed a couple of brain tumors that came out of nowhere. I think it was about 6-7 months later, a person in seemingly perfect health was reduced to almost a vegetative state.
Consider yourself very lucky. Your modeling probably saved your life. You probably would have ignored it if you weren’t worried about your appearance.
I am confused by your last sentence. Are you telling me to look more closely at your body? Sure, I will sacrifice for you!
August 6, 2008 at 3:41 pm |
How are your scars??? I had two moles removed on my back and there scars are a lot worse than I thought. Probably would have been better to have the dermatologist do the procedure than my normal doc.
August 6, 2008 at 3:46 pm |
trezfan- The doctor said it was my genetics. My mom is pale white with blonde hair and blue eyes. I assume it is from that side of the family. Although you look at me and I look olive complected, I still share my mothers genetics.
August 6, 2008 at 3:48 pm |
Puga- So far the scars are really minimal. My doctor puts one small stitch in everything he removes to minimize the scarring. I am not sure how this one will look though but it’s not like I have a choice in the matter.
August 6, 2008 at 4:06 pm |
From the reputedly questinable resource, the wikipeadia,
“On June 23, 2008, Israeli scientists from the Oncology Institute of the Hadassa Medical Center in Jerusalem announced they developed a vaccine that prevents recurrences of the disease among previous sufferers and increases chances of survival for current ones.”
reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanoma
And the url for this press release,
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/148679
August 6, 2008 at 4:09 pm |
My memory could be failing, but I thought you were pretty militant about using sunscreen?
Don’t forget to use vitamin E oil on the scars. It really does help a lot.
August 6, 2008 at 4:13 pm |
I hope you get better soon, take care of yourself.
August 6, 2008 at 4:16 pm |
When you say class do you mean stage 3 and stage 4 melanoma that is very serious stuff there is a little know company that may have a potential cure and certainly a new treatmeent for melanoma http://www.pvct.com Provectus has A leading world scientis is running the fda trials
August 6, 2008 at 4:23 pm |
That is odd. But I’m glad you caught it before it got worse. Take care Aria, and I wish you the best of luck
August 6, 2008 at 4:39 pm |
Aria:
I have known of you already for some years, I have been the so much of your steps and but that your admirer has been my platonic love everything this time, but good, for that it is not that I write you. I write you for I have just entered for the first time to your blog and with any thing I planned to meet less with the news of the discoveries in your skin. And he has left me very concerned, most when reading but below I have found that you have also been caught a cold and you have had asthma antecedents.
The illness although it is certain she can have a genetic substratum and that she has an external component that can detonate those inherited biases, it is always certain that the mental and emotional component is starting from which everything is generated in a beginning.
So it is this way “That to be until the noses” like in the colds, the nose that symbolizes “The pride, the energy and the sexuality, as well as your skin the organ that represents “The contact, the fineness, the isolation and the norms”, and exactly there, in your beautiful groin, on the line of the bikini, it is not difficult to think that but connotations in this respect she has on the whole, because anything is chance, but causation, the one like they are working in this moment all your systems and especially in immunologic and their relationship with what I ignore that is in fact what comes happening and it is passing in this moment in your internal world.
My heart and my being will have you more present than of habit, and the only thing that want to request you it is that you are very pending of your internal world, because if not him ready to this all the attention that is necessary, will be able to you to take out all the lesions that don’t seem to be well on your beautiful skin, but that alone it will be to be about silencing another sign that your body this using to tell you that there are things to revise. My final advice is that parallel to that that well these being treated with your specialist conventional doctors, look for the complementary handling of a good specialist as soon as possible in alternative medicine, because you question as big as those that comment they are spending they have left short with solely conventional handlings. I say it with cause knowledge because to that I am devoted and because I love you a lot, a lot, very much. The best in the luck for you, because you deserve everything, and it counts as always on me.
August 6, 2008 at 5:09 pm |
Aria have olive skin in any of it “degrees” is not an insurance against skin cancer. My family for example half Portuguese and half Spanish, the portuguese side of my family have very light skin and a tendency to have almost blonde hair to red-head hair and blue eyes depending the person, and the spanish side of my family have the tendency to have olive skin and almost always dark brown hair with green to brown eyes. But only in my “olive skinned” side of my family I recall few cases of melanoma.
Even if the actual color of the skin, sun exposure, and genetics plays a role in melanoma, we have to remember that olive skin is still far away from brown or black skin, so even if the skin is slightly more tanned than the average central and north European, and the person don’t have melanoma in his family history, that doesn’t mean that we can “abuse” of that olive skin with over-exposure to sun at swimming pools, beaches or even at work.
August 6, 2008 at 5:45 pm |
Aria, when you mentioned pale white with blonde hair and blue eyes, it made me think if you have ever had any issues with your kidneys? When you were younger, not now or maybe even your mom when she was younger. I was told one time that a high percentage of kidney related problems occur in children with pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. Just curious….
August 6, 2008 at 6:14 pm |
Thank goodness you made the decision to check it out. Your fans – thousands and thousands of us – want only the best for you.
This reinforces my feeling that each of us needs to take charge of our bodies, including health care.
The best of everything to you, princess!
August 7, 2008 at 7:38 pm |
Yikes, that’s pretty scary news! At least you caught this stuff early. A dear friend of mine was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma cancer a few years ago and sadly it was so advanced that it lead to his untimely death. So you’re very fortunate and blessed that you’ve caught this early and are aware of it and can take measures to keep it under control.
It’s so crazy how cancer could just sneak up on us without even being aware of it. My father just had one of his kidney’s removed because it had a large tumor growing on it. He only found out about it because of an MRI on his lungs (he went to the doctor for his asthma). Otherwise, he would have never even known it was there! Crazy stuff.
If anything else, all of these things reminds us of the temporary nature of the physical body and this material world. But I know that you know that you’re not your body, you’re the consciousness and spirit within it.
August 8, 2008 at 5:40 am |
Hi, Kid… as a fairly serious sailor and surfer most of my life I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time in the sun in all latitudes over the last 40 years — I’ve gotten seriously fried by the sun (and I mean blisters) any number of times. I am of northern European ancestry so one would think that I’d be covered in melanomas … but no, not a one. So, a lot of this is the luck of the draw (and I think nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins has more to do with it than the sun).
A couple of notes:
1. A one in 20 incidence rate is 5%… which is pretty slim odds.
2. A bunch of my friends have had a bunch of melanomas removed and they are all doing just fine… and they all treat is no-big-deal… as should you.
3. I have been keeping a close watch on your body ever since I discovered you.
4. If you’re going to refer your members to your ‘MySpace’ listing, you should give your members access as ‘friends’ … otherwise some of us might take umbrage.
Blessings,
Jerry the OC Sailorman
August 8, 2008 at 1:39 pm |
Aww, shucks…I just noticed that you didn’t approve my last couple of comments on this and your previous post. I hope it wasn’t anything I said. The only thing I can think is that it was a little too much on the spiritual/religious side. Sorry if it offended or was distasteful. Wasn’t meant to be.
Anyway, I was really just trying to say in regards to your health issues, i.e. – your skin and your lungs, that it’s good that you’re addressing these things now and that you’ve found them early. Like I was saying in regards to my father, it was just a fluke that they found a tumor on his kidney. So it’s really a blessing that you’ve found this out early in the earlier stages (because like I also said, that one friend of mine found out he had stage 4 melanoma too late). And in regards to antibiotics, it’s always good to follow the advice of your doctors, especially if the problem is persistent or reoccurring.
Pooey…now I feel like the commenter that you think is obnoxious. If it helps, I’m “Nitya_Nanda” from your message boards and I’m also the one that you did a drawing of Krishna for and the one that wants to get a painting from you. *sigh* I promise I won’t get too “religious” or “preachy” with my comments from here on out.
August 11, 2008 at 4:36 pm |
Heres an article that I found for you.
Melanoma rates on the rise
While we’re on the subject of melanoma, the American Academy of Dermatology just printed a study showing that melanoma rates have risen among women by 50 percent since 1980. And guess what everyone believes is to blame for this melanoma spike? The sun, of course.
According to the study’s author, Mark Purdue of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics, these new statistics are proof that the campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of tanning “do not appear to have resulted in a reduction of melanoma rates among young women.”
There’s a good reason for that: it’s because tanning has NOTHING TO DO WITH CAUSING MELANOMAS!
Melanomas are the result of exposure to artificial light and a lack of exposure to the sun. In fact, studies have shown that the dose of vitamin D that you get from exposure to sunlight can actually help to increase the survival rate from melanoma. And to top it off, melanomas are usually discovered on parts of the anatomy that aren’t typically exposed to sunlight.
And yet these higher rates of melanomas among young women are being misinterpreted as a “warning sign” that girls are disregarding common sense doctors’ advice for the sake of beauty and a good, dark tan.
In fact, the constant harangue during the summer months to slather on those water- resistant, high SPF sunscreens – what I like to call “basement in a bottle” – could actually be doing more to cause melanoma than anything else. Other research has found that people with a higher incidence of solar elastosis – the scientific term for the increased wrinkling of the skin (which IS, sorry to say, a side effect of increased sun exposure) had a DECREASED incidence of melanomas. Hmmm … I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that sunlight can actually battle melanoma?
Turns out the only thing those “protective” sunscreens may be protecting you from is a long and healthy life.
Shedding some needed sunlight on melanoma myths,
William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
August 11, 2008 at 4:38 pm |
Promising new melanoma treatment
Dear Ari,
There might be some good news in the fight against melanoma — as long as doctors are able to replicate the success they’ve had with one remarkable patient. With a unique and experimental immune system treatment, doctors used a patient’s own cells to bring the advance of melanoma to a grinding halt.
This new treatment caused the melanoma of a 52-year-old man to disappear for two years. Incredibly, this man’s melanoma had, at the time of the treatment, metastasized to one of his lungs and— worse yet — one of his lymph nodes.
Dr. Cassian Yee, one of the researchers who worked on the new treatment, says that the patient is “still doing well without any symptoms.”
In this unique immunotherapy technique, doctors took immune system cells called CD4+ T cells from the patient’s blood that targeted the man’s melanoma. These cells were separated and then cloned in a lab over the course of five months, and then five billion were infused back into the patient to fight the cancer.
Another benefit of this treatment is that the researchers didn’t see any side effects, which makes sense, since the treatment is basically the patient being injected with cells from his own body.
But — and you knew there had to be a but with a story this good — while the initial patient had such incredible success with the procedure, this “T-cell” treatment has since been used on eight other melanoma sufferers, none of whom experienced the same success. While there has been “some responses in the other patients,” Dr. Yee isn’t sure why the response has not been nearly as good as it was in the initial patient.
With promising but spotty results and a complex process, the T cell treatment is years from becoming mainstream. Still, Yee and other researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center where the treatment research was conducted believe that the essential idea of treating melanoma with this technique could be very successful in the future.
I’m encouraged that other doctors are still out there trying new techniques and making some headway in the war against insidious, aggressive cancers like melanoma.
August 14, 2008 at 11:31 pm |
Aria, look, when is posible the last comunication in your information about Mom’s genetic it’s part of your things and now is part of your genetic, you need put atention now to your new stage with so so so delicate concentration, each person can change the life and can see the news ways in each part of the life, this warning in your life can change too many things in your future, your times will change and you will enjoy more each moment. Search Aria don’t fall in each information about your posible condition is for your future….now you will see how your emotional inteligence will be a upgrade put atention to your emotions and feel yourself…feel that you want and remember, the mind can repair
i will give you a information….search about the NONI….remember NONI, in spanish language…..really work it
too many kisses and in your free time only for enjoy search about PUDU from Chile, it’s so cute, you wil see
August 15, 2008 at 4:40 am |
succeed, is the best thing you can do in the life.
August 15, 2008 at 7:37 am |
Well since it is genetic, it may be hard to escape. At least it can be removed. I think eating pineapples and tomatoes helps skin pigmentation alot. Kale and bok choy are extremely helpful too. I will be praying for you . Take care and stay happy !!
August 15, 2008 at 11:00 am |
Hi Miss Giovanni,
I was sorry to read of your melanoma scare but am relieved that you caught it in time and, hopefully, got it taken care of without any further occurances.
As you can see by the responses to this by all of us here, you have a lot of people who care a lot about you.
Take care pretty lady. I’m glad you’re alright.
David R.
August 15, 2008 at 11:40 pm |
stay away from processed foods and add leafy green edibale plants to your salad, you could use some wines as dressing like a good red and make a meat in the red wine besides drinking so you use the whole bottle, i know you like wines so you have a use for them and try to stay organic and look into herbology, the study of plants, australia is the only place that offers a phd in herbal pharmacology, but vitamin and antioxidants are good to help fight it, plus stay away from radiation like cellphones laptops directly on your anything wireless like phones and internet connections tvs and microwaves, stay a distance between them, stretch and excerise regularly like walks are very good hiking even better
August 15, 2008 at 11:41 pm |
p.s. massages are good, reiki or qi gong is a long shot, between its questionability and quacks finding a real master is hard
September 4, 2008 at 5:07 am |
hi
September 7, 2008 at 4:55 pm |
good to read that you found out in time and/or did not wait too long so docters are able to treat it right!
Good luck!
October 9, 2008 at 3:48 pm |
Hello beautiful Aria .. I read your post and be surprised … But do not you suggestions beautiful … I believe that apart from the doctor who treated you would a strengthening food, an alternative option and less stressful complications … Sometimes the body expresses something that happens to us very strong …. Sweet Kisses woman .. Take care much .. much … I lovely for you …
December 3, 2008 at 11:15 am |
A person had a mole on the inferior aspect of a toe. Perhaps friction from walking aggravated the mole but the melanoma associated with the mole proved fatal. People with darker skin are less likely to suffer melanoma that lighter skinned people. Quick intervention is key. Hope you have a good medical insurance plan.
January 23, 2009 at 9:01 am |
Well I hope that this problem will end for you and it won’t go any more serious,anyone should take care of themselves cause u never know when something bad will happen…my best wishes for fast and full recovery.
March 11, 2009 at 12:39 pm |
“It definitely makes me look more closely at my body now and I guess the point is so should you.”
Firstly, rest assured I have always looked very closely at your body. Secondly, melanoma is no game. It is one of the most invasive types of malignancies, does not respond either to chemo- nor radiotherapy and has very low overall survival rate. So remove all them moles you can, since moles removed cannot harm you, only moles preserved. Take care…