First, the dermatologist report. Everything is fine. He looked at the brown spots on my face, took some more pictures, and said not only are the spots harmless but one of them seems to have faded slightly since my general practitioner took photos a few weeks ago. I find that hard to believe, but I'm rolling with it. We're leaving them alone.
I also asked him about some actinic keratosis spots on my head, and he pulled out the dry ice and prepared to freeze them off. "Now, this will feel like a cigarette burn," he said. I thought silently, "Do enough people still smoke to even know what a cigarette burn feels like?" The freezing itself wasn't too bad, but for the next hour or two I felt (and probably looked) like I'd been stung by bees, which seems much more au courant as a comparison.
Bonus: He was a surprisingly sexy dermatologist! Young, fit, with alluring brown eyes above his face mask. I never saw the lower 2/3 of his face so I suppose he could be snaggletoothed or have a horrible facial tattoo or something, but I doubt it. He moved with the assurance of someone who knows he's good-looking.
At left is another one of the stamps I got in my mixed assortment. I liked this one (from Hungary) because it features poppies, which we have growing in our garden.
Oh, and our workplace fridge? Well, we went in yesterday morning and found it had been completely defrosted. We turned it on, put everything back inside, and soon realized that it wasn't cooling at all. Whatever was done to defrost it also completely killed it. So it looks like we need a new fridge.
The maintenance guy who did the work felt bad, but I told him it wasn't his fault -- and I really don't think it was. I suspect there was so much ice that it damaged the coils and removing it caused the system to leak coolant or otherwise go on the fritz. I had a fridge in my New York apartment that was the same way -- it was hideously frosted over when I bought the place, and I defrosted it only to find it would no longer work. It's a thing.
(Top photo: West Hampstead street scene, last weekend.)
Great news about your face. I, too, had a cream that did nothing. Mask removal has produced lots of surprises lately. We don’t recognize people we met during lockdown. I had read that, since we were completing the faces with our imaginations, we saw everyone as much more attractive. That’s true of a number of people I’ve seen at the gym. But there’s a waiter we met last year. He looked pretty adorable masked. I bumped into him on the street yesterday. He recognized me. I was shocked to learn he’s even better unmasked. Sorry. I DO go on.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you don't have skin cancer. At least you aren't stuck paying for a new fridge at work. I actually like not seeing complete faces, more interesting to contemplate possibilities.
ReplyDeleteSo what was behind the bag of ice? Perhaps the drugs consignment you stashed there after your "cruise" to Mexico? Happy to hear that Dr Dermo gave you the all clear.
ReplyDeleteWhat concerns my skin expert doctor are things that don't concern me and vice a versa. Good to know you are clear. We all like a hot doc.
ReplyDeleteI would think all new 'fridges would now be frost free. Remembering defrosting the 'fridge is best not done.
Good to hear the all clear. I have spots and freckles popping up all over, as often happens with age. None of them concern me, but maybe I should get checked just in case. I'll think about it.
ReplyDeleteThe stamp is pretty.
Glad you got a good report.
ReplyDeleteI guess the aging out of the fridge might have caused some of the buildup, too. Never getting really frozen. Let's hope there's a new one soon.
That's really good news from the dermatologist! And he was even sexy to boot! I call that a double win. :)
ReplyDeleteGregg is continually getting basal cell carcinomas removed from his face and head, also a legacy of being a fair skinned, early balding guy who grew up in the sunny south! He loved sunbathing as a young man, and he's paying the price now.
That's a pretty stamp. I love stamps and always like to have "nice" ones on hand (rather than the plain flag forever stamps) for mailing letters and cards.
Please wear a hat when you are outside. I imagine you already do, but the mother in me couldn't help but blurt that out. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHurray on the derm report! As to the face cream that is strong enough to actually do something- oh man. My dermatologist had me use that for awhile and I had to stop when my face was bleeding all over my pillowcases. It was HORRIBLE! If you can avoid it- please do.
ReplyDeleteGood news at the dermatologist! Yay!
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the mini fridge. These things happen.
That is a pretty stamp! You could frame some of your pretty duplicates in a lovely collage!
Really good news on your dermatology report. Yay!
ReplyDeleteBummer about the refrigerator. Makes me wonder how long it will take for the school to buy a new one.
Cool stamp. I am so looking forward to our poppies blooming here.
Good to hear that nothing serious was going on with the skin issues. Every time I go for my semi-annual body check, they always find several spots to hit with the dry ice and they are never the ones that concern me. Clearly, I'm not very good at spotting the problem spots.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the fridge. The new one probably won't have the "frosting" problem at all.
Good news, no cancer! I have strange things cropping up on my skin as I age. Nothing works as well as it used, including my skin apparently:)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it turned out to be a good visit to the dermatologist. (in more ways than one! 😉) When I was a small child I had a plantar wart removed from my heel. When the doctor asked me if I could feel what he was doing, I said it just felt like getting burned by a cigarette. My mother was horrified! (both parents smoked like chimneys and I had bumped into a cigararette on more than one occasion)
ReplyDeleteI want to sit on that bench in your top photo, I don't know quite why it beckons me. I took have recently been to the dermatologist to have a brown spot removed from the center of my forehead, right by the hairline. It was harmless, but the way it suddenly showed up it bothered me. Comes with aging I suppose. Glad you're all well, otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI like the stamp. You should probably go to that dermatologist every 6 months (wink, wink).
ReplyDeleteYay! Glad about your skin! And I love that stamp - so pretty! I've been thinking about getting my own mini fridge for my office even though there's a brand new one in the break room that is, like 100 feet from my office. I am pathetic. Ha!
ReplyDeleteThe spots on the skin are a worry. You'll be glad you got them off.
ReplyDeleteSo many stamps are miniature works of art. Glad to hear the dermatologist report was a good one.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a relief to have that derm appointment done.
ReplyDeleteI look better in a mask than not. I'm thinking of starting to wear a hat with a veil, too. Then I'll be bee-yoo-ti-ful. It does feel a bit like false advertising, though :)
Mitchell: I think there's some truth to that. It's the same beauty principle behind many women in Middle Eastern countries wearing veils.
ReplyDeleteE: Well, I don't have to pay for it, but somebody does!
YP: As far as I know nothing, but none of us were here when the ice was extracted, so who knows?!
Andrew: Yeah, I'm sure a newer fridge would be easier to manage. (And probably more energy efficient.)
Boud: Yeah, it's hard to say. Maybe an inefficient fridge actually created some of that ice.
Jennifer: Double win! Yeah, we fair-skinned people from the South bear the scars.
Colette: I actually DO wear a hat whenever I'm outside for any length of time, which is what makes this surprising. I have fewer keratoses than my dad had -- so far, anyway.
Ms Moon: Yikes! I don't want it to be THAT strong!
Ellen D: I could, but I'd rather put them all in my album, where they'll be protected.
Robin: I think we're even debating whether to replace it. It's not something we really NEED. Personally, I never use it.
Sharon: It's funny how (as Andrew also said) the spots that concern the doctors are often not the same spots that concern us!
Pixie: Yeah, this is the sad fact of aging, I think. We all sort of fall apart.
Kelly: Ha! I'm sure she was worried the doctor would think you were being intentionally burned, a la "Sybil."
37P: Well, like me, you've spent a lot of time in the sun, so I imagine we both have our share of sun damage.
Wilma: Oh, at least! LOL!
Bug: I would be happy for an excuse to get up and stretch my legs to go to the community fridge!
Red: Well, some of them, anyway. As I said, we left the ones that caused me to go to the dermatologist in the first place. (Ironically!)
Ellen: They ARE little works of art -- very intricate.
Jenny-O: There is something intriguing about a face in a mask, I suppose (as someone said above) because it gives our brain an opportunity to "complete" the face according to our own ideals.
Maybe you can find a nice frost-free fridge that doesn't cost an arm and a leg -- then it's just a matter of keeping an eye on the science experiments!
ReplyDeleteGood news on the spots and also that you got the ketoses checked out. Always smart to do that. I hope the new cream is effective! Have a great weekend.