Nora Ephron apologized with, “I Feel Bad About my Neck.” Her observations, responsible for her book title, were related to the unavoidable impact of aging on her neck. In my case it’s my skin. It’s not so much its appearance as its determination to fill every quadrant with some variety of skin cancer.

I am fair skinned and grew up spending long days in the hot South Georgia sun. My boyhood in the 1950s was a time before computers and all the digital appurtenances of today. In fact, my rural setting was challenged to connect with the TV stations in relatively remote areas. So little of weekends and summer was spent (wasted?) in front of the tube. Life was outside and in the sun.

During adolescence and adulthood, I continued to spend time in the sun. I enjoyed the beach when possible and was an avid tennis player. Did I have enough sense to regularly use sunblock? Of course not. I went my carefree way.

Perhaps the punch line is obvious by now.  It’s not so much the skin appearance I feel bad about. It’s the plethora of skin cancers that the combination of sun and time caused. A spectrum of dermatologists, plastic surgeons and oncologic surgeons have excised more than 10 basal cell cancers—honestly I’ve lost count—and no less than four melanomas. The basal cells were all cured by that minimal, but annoying, intervention of excision. During my career I was happy wielding a scalpel but it’s less fun on the receiving end. Happily, the melanomas were detected at an early stage. Although requiring a more extensive excision than the basal cells, excision was the only treatment necessary. I was fortunate.

So now I rue my past reveling in the sun and intend regular and frequent dermatology examinations. I hope you are more willing users of sunblock than I and encourage all of a certain age to submit to routine skin checks with your friendly neighborhood dermatologist. Prevention or, at least, early detection will keep you from feeling bad about your skin.