Originally Posted by LauraLee

I am fair skinned/blonde/blue eyes and have lived my entire life in Florida- so needless to say, I have had several 'suspicious' spots looked at. Each time they have cut them out and done biopsies and luckily no cancer yet. *knocks on wood*
Some people's scars will keloid (sorta a raised red area) and others will have barely a mark left behind. The 2 deciding factors are the location of the cut and your genetic background (some people are predisposed to worse scaring). If your scar does keloid speak to your doctor about a steroid shot. Typically this will diminish the scar a lot.
I haven't tried the fake tanning products but have read a lot of positive press on them. Apparently they have improved them greatly.
My Mom works with a skin cancer specialist who performs a high-tech surgery called MOHS. My Mom uses a machine to freeze the skin tissue so that it can be spliced super thin and then she checks them under a microscope to see if the doctor has removed everything entirely.
I typically go in to see him 2 times a year just to be on the cautious side.

I love the outdoors so in order to still be able to enjoy all my activities I have made a compromise to myself and have become very conscientious about wearing sunscreen.