Saving Face (avenue)
A dermatologist advises how to safely stay out of his office and out on the beach this summer
Summertime has finally hit Calgary, and we’ve been cooped up inside for so long, we’re ready to strip down and soak up some rays. But there is an ugly side to beautiful brown skin. As we all know, wrinkles, accelerated aging and skin cancer all stem from suntanning, yet we often ignore tomorrow’s long-term effects in favour of a sexy sepia tone today.
According to dermatologist Dr. John Arlette, the only surgeon in Calgary trained in Mohs Micrographic Surgery, most of his operations are on the one delicate area of the body you would probably prefer a scalpel never touched.
“Ninety-eight per cent of the work I do is on people’s faces,” says Arlette, referring to the “Fresh Tissue Technique” that allows him to cut out cancerous skin bit by bit. “It’s the area where people get the most amount of exposure.” With 2,400 hours of sunshine per year, Calgary gets hit with as many rays as the brightest spots on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast, but our higher elevation puts us closer to the sun, with fewer atmospheric gases to protect us from the harmful ultraviolet rays. Mix that with what Arlette describes as foolish habits, like spring suntan bed “base tanning,” or frequent Mexican beach vacations, and you have a perfect breeding ground for skin cancer and accelerated aging.
“If you take a look at the people who come in for cosmetic treatments, whether they are men or women, they all come for their own specific reason,” says Arlette, who performs Mohs surgery on as many as five clients per day and has done more than 13,000 operations in his 30-year career. “We all work hard on the paper resumé that we use for jobs. Well, some people recognize that we also need to work on the appearance of our face in order for it to match with what people are looking for in today’s market.”
Recent research hints this could be true. After reviewing almost 40 years of psychological research, Hofstra University’s Comila Shahani-Denning found it is a near-universal phenomenon that attractive candidates have a better chance at getting a sought-after job or higher pay. Nobody wants to look like those shrivelled-up, 1980s-cartoon cover artists The California Raisins, nor do we want gangsterlike surgical scars on the lower lip, so wouldn’t it just be easier to cover up?
Covering up can be easy if we apply Stampede sensibilities to skin-cancer prevention. Cowboys, after all, know a little bit about hiding from the glaring prairie sun. Cowboy hats have a perfect wide-brimmed design that keeps the sun off the ears, face and neck, the most affected areas for skin cancer. A stylish kerchief tucked into the front of a snap-button Wrangler shirt doubly secures the sensitive skin areas, while some dark aviator sunglasses will keep the sun at bay. Jeans complete the sunproof suit and, if your getup is a little uncomfortable, remember this: the Marlboro Man didn’t get skin cancer.
“It’s counterproductive for people to try to ‘maintain’ a suntan,” Arlette says. “We don’t want to be promoting the idea that there’s a safe way to tan. The safe way to tan is to keep your hat on, your shirt on and wear sunscreen.”
Of course, we’ve all heard it before; it’s easy, so let’s do it this time so the good doctor can take a break from fixing faces and go on a sunny summer vacation. —Todd Andre
