Wednesday 11 July 2007

Molier than thou

Oh indeed, I don't know anyone with more moles than I have, with the possible exception of my sister. Oddly, neither of our parents had any to speak of. I've never liked them, but I don't think anything of them (although it took me ages to recover from the trauma of my sister singing "I am a mole and I live in a hole" to the one in my armpit, when we were children. I mean, by ages, several decades) and whoever would think of researching their health benefits?

Someone did - it's the penultimate item, if you scroll down. It's not often that a random health 'discovery' (for I don't know how in-depth the study was) confers a health benefit on me. The other side of the coin, that I'm more likely to develop a malignant melanoma, is no surprise, of course and I do peer at bits of me, wondering which bits I recognise, which are likely to be spatters of mud and which, although new, are probably fine - for if I toddled off to the doctor for every new mole, he would soon become tired of the sight of me - but I'm more resigned than anxious.

I don't exaggerate their number, by the way. I've just counted 22 on my left forearm and 11 on the right one. But an inbuilt protection against heart disease and osteoporosis, that's given me a new respect for the blobs.

6 comments:

Pat said...

I recently had some sun damage on my leg. I have always (with a fair skin) behaved sensibly as far as the sun is concerned but my legs seemed tougher - went brown with no bother and I didn' trouble to protect them. It wasn't cancerous but was a nuisance and there is still a faint mark. What I think I'm saying is moles or no moles protect your skin- all of it. I also (quite common this) got a sort of mole on my back which was frozen off and the doc suggested one shouldnt use softener on towels - a good rub with a rough old towel gets rid of all the sebum. Common sense really

Z said...

Fortunately, I never have sunbathed, even in my teens when no one ever heard of skin cancer. I didn't tan and just got freckled, so it was better to stay out of the sun. However, I still rather expect to have trouble sooner or later - though, I hope, not with the particularly nasty sort of melanoma.

A wildlife gardener said...

I bet they are all beauty spots. I've always thought them attractive.

Z said...

That is the sweetest thing to say. You are such a honey!

luckyzmom said...

At first I thought you were talking about the animal type of moles because I had read your post about your garden!

Z said...

We've got a few of those about too. But not usually crawling about my person.