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Skin Diaries This is Brave

This is Brave: Renata Block

Warriors. Yes, that is what we are! I want to share with you stories from two very different perspectives.  

Let’s start with me.  I am a practicing Dermatology Physician Assistant (PA-C) and have been doing so since 2003 in Chicago, IL. I am compassionate about my career and even created a social media page, Savvy Derm Diva to share my knowledge with and educate the public. There is so much misinformation posted on the internet, and I was on a mission to make sure things posted by non-professional ‘skin experts’ were corrected. I was so focused on my blogs and speaking events that it started to be another full-time position. Luckily for me, my husband Bob is very supportive and would jump in and help me as much as he could. (He has become a very good photographer for my endeavors, by the way.) Savvy Derm Diva became a ‘must-read’ skin care blog, Q&A column, and a trusted source to follow on social media.  

As you can imagine, my husband has been inundated with everything skin, from products to becoming educated on different diagnoses, to editing skincare brochures and posts. Speaking from professional experience, like most men (sorry guys), before I met him, he barely used moisturizer, sunscreen, and did not follow a proper skincare regimen, to say the least. This was quite an adjustment, many years in the making and my most challenging patient of all. Bob would never get sunburned, like ever.  He always has a nice summer glow that many people would envy, myself even, as I would fry like a cherry tomato without wearing sunscreen for five minutes. Yes, it’s true!!

One day, three years ago, my mole patrol eyes noticed that a mole on his right upper extremity looked different.  Examining it closer with my special trained eye and tools, it was a picture-perfect example of a mole that looked wrong. As a persistent wife and Dermatology PA-C, we immediately scheduled a biopsy. Honestly, I cried with the diagnosis and was in complete disbelief! Savvy Derm Diva, a Dermatology PA-C and a blogger about skincare, had a husband affected with melanoma; this just could not be. But it was. Luckily, it was a pathology-proven melanoma in situ diagnosis, a melanoma in its early stage that was fully treated with excision. Thank goodness!

The diagnosis was a wake-up call to my husband making sure he had his sunscreen and Coolibar fashion on ALL THE TIME! If it were not for regular exams, we would have never found the 2nd one on his right chest a couple of years later! Again, another melanoma in situ that was quite large but not seen to the naked eye and, this time needed additional topical chemotherapy. My husband is now cancer-free and my sidekick advocate. He is now the poster boy for proper skin care who lectures on the importance of regular skin exams, sun protection, and the seriousness of the diagnosis.

As a provider, I am incredibly proud of my profession but prouder of my husband, as he is the true educator in the family and has made a difference by speaking out on the awareness of skin cancer. The reality is, melanoma can affect anyone, anytime, anywhere on the body, even a Dermatology PA-C spouse and a Savvy Derm Diva Blogger. I call him my Savvy Derm Dude.  Now, we both blog about it to create public awareness! Our message here is to protect and get checked because it can save your life!

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