an admonition: wear sunscreen

A few of you know that a few months ago I went to a dermatologist to check out a weird mole I had on my face. It turned out to be basal cell skin cancer. Don't worry, that is the less dangerous non-spreading type. On Wednesday, I had Mohs surgery to make sure all the cancer was removed. Luckily they got it all out in one go, but then I had to wait 3 hours until they had time to stitch me back up. That's Canadian health care for you. However, let me be a lesson to you all. Learn from this and, from now on, wear sunscreen. Otherwise you will end up dealing with this:

(note: this first picture is mild, if you are squeamish about blood, do not scroll down.)

This first picture shows the swelling I am dealing with and a bit of bruising. It looks more mild in the picture than it actually is. See how the corner of my eye is enveloped in massive bulges, yeah, thats not normal.

This is the wound in all its glory. You can see the large blue suture at the bottom and there are smaller dissolving stitches underneath the surface. They could not stitch the whole thing up because of where the incision is located; stitching it up would have left really ugly ridges of skin. This way the scar will be smooth.

And, lastly, here is a good close up. Sure makes you want to slather your face in sunscreen, doesn't it?
Good. My job here is done.