By Brenda Dyson

I love the sun. I have always been one of those people who seem to get more energy from being in the sunlight. I have also always loved having a tan. Growing up, I would burn a little my first time out and then would get a really good tan as the summer progressed. I thought everybody truly looked better with a tan. I can remember a few times though when I didn’t just burn a little, I burned a lot. There were the occasional vinegar baths and steroid dose packs when I had little blisters all over my legs and arms. I didn’t know at the time just how much damage I was doing or how it would come back to haunt me.

When I got my first kidney transplant in December 1990, no one told me I needed to avoid the sun. I had no idea people who are immunosuppressed are ten times more likely to get skin cancer. So, I just proceeded to do what I had always done. I lay out by the pool. I occasionally went to a tanning bed for a little base tan, and I got some really good tans. Then, about four years after my transplant, I spotted a little lesion on my chest. I went to a dermatologist who said it was squamous cell carcinoma and sent me to a plastic surgeon for removal. The first three or four lesions I had were on my chest. Then I started noticing them on my arms and legs.They actually started popping up all over the place!

I met my current dermatologist in the airport in Dallas. We were both traveling from Jackson, MS, to San Diego for different conferences. I mentioned to her I needed to change dermatologists and that I received a kidney transplant. Amazingly, she herself was a diabetic with kidney disease (she has since had a pancreas/kidney transplant). I started going to her for my lesions and she really got tough. She has been aggressively treating me now for about ten years.

I have had so many squamous cell carcinomas that I don’t even know if I can count them all. I’ve had lesions on my legs, my arms, my hands, my feet, my chest, my back and some pre-cancerous lesions around my mouth and eyes. Most are squamous cell carcinomas; many we freeze before they become cancerous and I’ve had one basal cell carcinoma. Thankfully, none have been melanoma.

Once, I made a casual statement to my doctor saying thank goodness they were squamous, because squamous cells do not kill people. She informed me that because I was immunosuppressed that they could indeed kill me and they could also become invasive and metastasize.

We work really hard to get the lesions in time, but some have been invasive and we have had to cut deep for them. I am currently using a topical chemotherapy called Carac that I spread all over my arms and legs. It brings the lesions to the surface and helps to make them go away. I don’t think I’ll ever be completely skin cancer free as long as I’m transplanted and on immunosuppressants. It’s an interesting trade off. People really need to understand that transplants bring other health issues for patients to deal with. Skin cancers don’t have to be one of them. AVOID THE SUN!! Stay skin cancer free. If you feel you just have to have a tan, spray it on or rub it on. You’ll be thankful in the long run.

Brenda Dyson is the Special Studies/ Patient Services Coordinator for Network 8. Brenda is a two time transplant recipient and is Immediate Past President of AAKP.

This article originally appeared in the September 2007 issue of aakpRENALIFE.