Working pilots: sunscreen?

[JordanD]

God people on pilot forums get so up in arms about other pilots habits/clothing. Either wear it or don't and stop worrying about what other people do, ya bunch of nancies

Whether or not it's sun related or the jacked up sleep schedules/stress, most older airline pilots look at least 10 years older than they actually are.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Another necropost for you.

I’m 48 years old and always been kind of an “indoor kid”, so never gave much thought to going to a dermatologist. Some of the guys I’ve flown with suggested that is important, especially since we don’t have the Boeing sunscreens and we spend a lot of time in the sun.

Anyway, went to see a doctor and he said he found something called Actinic Keratoses on my forehead and scalp. He told me that was damaged skin cells that aren’t cancerous yet, but if allowed to continue untreated could become cancerous down the line.

The treatment he recommended is a cream, applied over 7 days, which will cause those cells to die, and new skin to to grow underneath. The problem is that wherever those cells are, the skin will become kind of red and blotchy for several weeks while it heals. He showed me a photo. It’s not pretty.

I’m already self conscious because of hair loss and Dad bod, so I was wondering if any of you guys have done anything like this and how you approached it at work. I don’t want to make customers or coworkers uncomfortable. Have plenty of sick time but hate to waste it on something like this that is more vanity than a reason to call out sick.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[CFIscare]

Another necropost for you.

I’m 48 years old and always been kind of an “indoor kid”, so never gave much thought to going to a dermatologist. Some of the guys I’ve flown with suggested that is important, especially since we don’t have the Boeing sunscreens and we spend a lot of time in the sun.

Anyway, went to see a doctor and he said he found something called Actinic Keratoses on my forehead and scalp. He told me that was damaged skin cells that aren’t cancerous yet, but if allowed to continue untreated could become cancerous down the line.

The treatment he recommended is a cream, applied over 7 days, which will cause those cells to die, and new skin to to grow underneath. The problem is that wherever those cells are, the skin will become kind of red and blotchy for several weeks while it heals. He showed me a photo. It’s not pretty.

I’m already self conscious because of hair loss and Dad bod, so I was wondering if any of you guys have done anything like this and how you approached it at work. I don’t want to make customers or coworkers uncomfortable. Have plenty of sick time but hate to waste it on something like this that is more vanity than a reason to call out sick.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

 

[CFIscare]

In all seriousness though, I know my dad had to do this awhile back and it ended up not being as scary looking as some of the pictures shown. Or at least from what I remember seeing.

 

[moxiepilot]

Take a vacation?

 

[Nick]

Another necropost for you.

I’m 48 years old and always been kind of an “indoor kid”, so never gave much thought to going to a dermatologist. Some of the guys I’ve flown with suggested that is important, especially since we don’t have the Boeing sunscreens and we spend a lot of time in the sun.

Anyway, went to see a doctor and he said he found something called Actinic Keratoses on my forehead and scalp. He told me that was damaged skin cells that aren’t cancerous yet, but if allowed to continue untreated could become cancerous down the line.

The treatment he recommended is a cream, applied over 7 days, which will cause those cells to die, and new skin to to grow underneath. The problem is that wherever those cells are, the skin will become kind of red and blotchy for several weeks while it heals. He showed me a photo. It’s not pretty.

I’m already self conscious because of hair loss and Dad bod, so I was wondering if any of you guys have done anything like this and how you approached it at work. I don’t want to make customers or coworkers uncomfortable. Have plenty of sick time but hate to waste it on something like this that is more vanity than a reason to call out sick.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

The description of the blotchiness and redness afterwards fits the description of a guy's hands that I flew with a couple years ago. I wasn't going to ask but he brought it up at some point during the trip that his hands were a little itchy if I wondered, because he had just had some skin treatment on them and this redness, itchiness etc. was the temporary aftermath.

I didn't think it was that hideous looking or anything, to call in sick for. It was obvious that there was some skin irritation going on, but not really much different than if you noticed someone with a really obvious, large birthmark that happened to be on their face. You might notice for a second, and move on.

(and passing along his subsequent remark to me, not to you directly of course but in general: make sure you wear sunscreen! "People put it everywhere but kinda forget to put it on the top of your hands and fingers...I judged many school tennis matches in the chair with my hands out in the sun and my face covered in sunscreen.")

 

[Bob Ridpath]

Another necropost for you.

I’m 48 years old and always been kind of an “indoor kid”, so never gave much thought to going to a dermatologist. Some of the guys I’ve flown with suggested that is important, especially since we don’t have the Boeing sunscreens and we spend a lot of time in the sun.

Anyway, went to see a doctor and he said he found something called Actinic Keratoses on my forehead and scalp. He told me that was damaged skin cells that aren’t cancerous yet, but if allowed to continue untreated could become cancerous down the line.

The treatment he recommended is a cream, applied over 7 days, which will cause those cells to die, and new skin to to grow underneath. The problem is that wherever those cells are, the skin will become kind of red and blotchy for several weeks while it heals. He showed me a photo. It’s not pretty.

I’m already self conscious because of hair loss and Dad bod, so I was wondering if any of you guys have done anything like this and how you approached it at work. I don’t want to make customers or coworkers uncomfortable. Have plenty of sick time but hate to waste it on something like this that is more vanity than a reason to call out sick.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

It’s not vanity, though. It’s your future. As an old guy now I’ve been surprised at the way things from days long gone kind of “catch up” and become problematic. I’d encourage you to deal with it now to (hopefully) avoid a bigger problem in days to come.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

It’s not vanity, though. It’s your future. As an old guy now I’ve been surprised at the way things from days long gone kind of “catch up” and become problematic. I’d encourage you to deal with it now to (hopefully) avoid a bigger problem in days to come.

I agree. I meant my concern about whether or not to go to work or call in sick while healing being primarily vanity.

 

[CFI A&P]

Another necropost for you.

I’m 48 years old and always been kind of an “indoor kid”, so never gave much thought to going to a dermatologist. Some of the guys I’ve flown with suggested that is important, especially since we don’t have the Boeing sunscreens and we spend a lot of time in the sun.

Anyway, went to see a doctor and he said he found something called Actinic Keratoses on my forehead and scalp. He told me that was damaged skin cells that aren’t cancerous yet, but if allowed to continue untreated could become cancerous down the line.

The treatment he recommended is a cream, applied over 7 days, which will cause those cells to die, and new skin to to grow underneath. The problem is that wherever those cells are, the skin will become kind of red and blotchy for several weeks while it heals. He showed me a photo. It’s not pretty.

I’m already self conscious because of hair loss and Dad bod, so I was wondering if any of you guys have done anything like this and how you approached it at work. I don’t want to make customers or coworkers uncomfortable. Have plenty of sick time but hate to waste it on something like this that is more vanity than a reason to call out sick.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

I have also been told to use the same cream but haven’t yet, for the exact same reason. The dermatologist advised that the redness will be proportionate to how bad your case is.

The photos from the internet don’t help either.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I have also been told to use the same cream but haven’t yet, for the exact same reason. The dermatologist advised that the redness will be proportionate to how bad your case is.

The photos from the internet don’t help either.

I’ve got some vacation at the end of May. Might try it then, stretch it out as long as I can and hope I’m looking better by the end.

 

[jtrain609]

I have also been told to use the same cream but haven’t yet, for the exact same reason. The dermatologist advised that the redness will be proportionate to how bad your case is.

The photos from the internet don’t help either.

I’ve got some vacation at the end of May. Might try it then, stretch it out as long as I can and hope I’m looking better by the end.

The two of you are acting like you're worth looking at in the first place.

Seriously don't put this off or worse, forget about it. Every single one of us is going to get skin cancer from this job, so if you guys can do something to punt that down the road, just do it.