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Salamander
Fire Walking

No skin off my nose
Fri Apr 04 2008

Trying to exercise due vigilance, I survey my skin frequently these days. Brown spots, white spots, red spots are all categorized and revisited. The texture on the backs of my hands resembles nothing so much as the loose weave of a burlap bag and disabuses me of any illusions that I could continue to pass for ten years younger than my actual age. There are divots that remain under my eyes where the protective goggles dig into the bags. Because my skin is slowly darkening under treatment, my many scars are beginning to stand out in high relief. My freckles have been liberated.

I’m doing what I can to minimize the damage. Bleaching moisturizer on the back of my hands has done a nice job of fading the brown splotches that have been trying to develop for a few months. “Senile lentigines”: the term creeps me out as much as the looks. Lentigino … now there’s a good word to throw out at the lunch table or over a few drinks at a party. “Orange cat letigino”: those orange-brown splotches orange cats develop on their lips or noses. Lentigino is Latin for lentil bean, by the way. The freakin’ splotches trying to take root on the back of my hands resemble lentils about as much as orange cats resemble lions.

The drug I take before the PUVA treatments increases my chances of, among other things, developing cataracts. I have to wear funky UV-proof wrap-around glasses for 24 hours following taking the medication any time I’m where I can see natural light. This includes in my office, since UV light has no trouble passing through window glass. I’ve boarded up my lovely windows with black poster board, and my immediate co-workers have taken to calling my office the “Bat Cave”. I considered investing in a mask and cape, but I’m not sure the wrap-around glasses would fit over the ears.

Ran across this explanation of the phrase “It’s no skin off my nose” as I poked around the web on break today: No Skin Off My Nose. I know it's purely a work of fiction, but I’m thinking of putting a peephole in my office door.

2 Comments
  • From:
    SitsWithAnAddingMachine (Legacy)
    On:
    Fri Apr 04 2008
    Thanks for "clearing that up" about UV passing through windows. I was never sure when I was driving if I could be damaging my skin when the sun shone on my bare arms. I know car manufacturers put certain coatings on window glass. I wonder (but doubt) if some of it is UV protectant.

    Welcome to the club of skin scanners. I wish you hadn't become a member.
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Wed Apr 09 2008
    RYC: *giggles helplessly* Yes, I have g*R*ackles. I hadn't even realized, obviously, that I'd misspelled it (repeatedly) until you pointed it out. The sad thing is that I knew they were grackles, not gackles. I need a keeper.

    Another friend of mine asked me if I actaully had starlings (she lived in your neck of the woods for about 10 years, BTW) instead of grackles. I didn't think so because starlings don't have the vibrant heads though they supposedly do have a metalic sheen to their feathers?? I also don't think we get starlings in this part of the country but I've been known to be wrong......Either way, they're nasty birds and I want no part of them!