Melasma & a trip to the Derm.

For a while now Chris has been bugging me to go get my moles checked. He's not a moley person, so my moles freak him out. To me they're no big deal. My mom & sister are moley people too. They don't phase us.

So this morning I went to see Dr. Ream, a dermatologist near my work. He checked all my moles and said they were, "beautiful." Not exactly the adjective I'd use, but I'll take it. He showed me his nifty brochure on melanoma and what changes to look for in my moles. Basically Chris was worried for no reason. He was relieved when I told him.

The other reason (for me the main reason) I went in this morning was the dark circle around my mouth. Here recently the skin on my upper lip has gotten darker and darker. It grosses me out. So I asked Dr. Ream what is the cause?! His answer: hormones and sun. He diagnosed me with a skin pigmentation called Melasma. It's more common in women (90%) , Hispanics (70%) & women in their reproductive years. Basically the sun and my hormones combined and caused my skin to freak out... resulting in an awesome mustache looking ring on my upper lip.

Melasma.

The good news is that it can be fixed. Hallelujah! He wrote me a prescription for some bleach cream, and gave me ample samples of sunscreen SPF 40. I have never even owned a bottle of sunscreen much less SPF 40. He instructed me to use it daily & to never step foot in the sun without it. He followed with, "Now I know you're young and you aren't going to follow instructions, but if you don't use it the melasma will come back in a flash."

So I'm officially a sunscreen user...

&&& I love my husband because he was genuinely worried about my moles. I like that he worries about me & wants me to hang around for a while