16 | www. Char l es tonPhys i c i ans . com | www.Hea l thL i nksChar l es ton . com John Baltzegar has spent his entire life outdoors. He mostly enjoyed offshore fishing from “Miss Caroline,” a boat named for his wife of 25 years. His skin, he said, is admittedly on the darker side, and he’s never had to worry about the impact of the sun’s rays. But at Caroline’s insistence, he scheduled a checkup last fall. He hadn’t seen a dermatologist for several years, since before the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Baltzegar, who turns 77 this summer, sold his boat and in September made the twohour trek to see Dr. Manuel Valdebran at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “I’ve never had any indication I had anything wrong,” said Baltzegar, owner of StoneWorks, a marble and granite fabricator in the Hilton Head area. “Caroline just wanted me to have a head-to-toe checkup.” Dr. Valdebran performed a thorough examination and found a questionable growth on the back of Baltzegar’s shoulder. A biopsy confirmed that the growth was malignant. In early October, a surgeon removed the mole and took a lymph node for examination. Thankfully, the cancer had been confined to the small growth. At his follow-up visit in April, Dr. Valdebran found a pre-cancerous mole on Baltzegar’s temple, which he froze. “My wife’s right – you need checkups,” he said. With his dark complexion, Baltzegar rarely saw any discolorations on his skin. But others with fairer skin, like Caroline, are more prone to sunburn and the dangers of sun exposure. They also may have freckles, which usually appear on the skin of individuals with red hair. There are two types of freckles, or tan spots, according to Dr. Valdebran. Ephelides are small, pigmented spots that are FRAUGHT WITH FRECKLES WHEN TO WORRY ABOUT SKIN SPOTS By Linda L. Esterson
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