I am not the type to lecture other people, especially when sitting in a glass house. But the summer is approaching and along with all the usual fashion and grooming crimes, there is one serious topic that I feel very strongly about: protecting my skin.

Although I remember my parents telling me to use sun screen as a kid at the beach, back then we still had an ozone layer, you could smoke on the plane and the awareness for health issues was almost inexistent. People just died from old age…with 35. Nowadays everything is more complicated. Every illness has a weird name with letters and numbers and all six months a new pandemia is about to wipe out the world. Unfortunately and despite all the jokes, skin cancer is more present than ever and Switzerland is the country in Europe with most cases of melanoma. Scary but true. On the bright side 90% of the cases can be cured if detected at an early stage. This is the reason why La Roche Posay is launching once again its SKINCHECKER campaign. On their site you will find a simple step by step guide to checking your skin and you can have your moles tested for free.

So where does that leave us now? Less sunbathing, more sun screen and most important regular skin checks. Easy as that, right? Well…The skin checks are a tricky issue. In principle you just make an appointment with a dermatologist and attend. My reality however is a little different and that’s why I have been secretly dodging my appointments for the last two years (can you hear the glass breaking?). Ever since my former doctor retired I haven’t had the guts to make the call. Basically because a skin check includes some of the most embarrassing and disturbing moments in your life. You will be confronted with some of your primal fears:

1. The moment you find out your doctor is a woman
2. The moment she checks your scalp without needing a hair dryer
3. The moment when she asks you to undress; completely
4. The moment when she checks your butt crack
5. The moment she mumbles: “hmmm…”
6. Scars
7. Needles
8. The smell of burnt flesh
9. The days waiting for the test results

And still, there is no way around it and no valid excuses. Man up! Face your fears and start checking your skin.

Thanks to the team at The Pool for hooking me up (@thepoolteam).