Skin cancer?

how can we get skin cancer if we have never been a sun bather????

i had a bcc removed from my face last summer and i have never sat in the sun for ages i was also told that it was a form of skin cancer that you dont normaly get till your are about in your 60s!!

so why did i get it at the age of 36??

anyone can help me please....

i have also been told that i have to cover up now for the rest of my life...its not fair all these people that lay in the sun all the time never get anything wrong with them...so why me!!!!!

sorry you got skin cancer,but the only good thing is that it was a basal cell carcinoma,which is the least malignant form of skin cancer.If you had a squamous cell carcinoma or a melanoma it would be of more concern. Hpoe they made sure they cut out enought to be sure the margins are free of those cells.

Maybe you sunbathed or caught the sun once when you were a little girl - cancer can appear many years, decades even, after the damaging exposure.
The sun cream that was available 25 years ago was nowhere near effective enough to prevent skin cancer.
Even the so-called 5star products available today are useless unless they are applied every couple of hours or so, regardless of what the packaging might tell you.
The only fail safe way to prevent skin cancer is to cover up in UV blocking clothes. It's safer to stay out of the sun altogether.
Sometimes I wish life had subtitles!
```````
Its tough and I am none to sure that it has much to do with the sun. My friend got one on her back which hardly ever saw the sun and another friend on his foot. The good news is that was five years ago and they are well in the clear so I am sure you will be
sun bathing is one of the caused but is not the only one you are expose to damaging rays everyday for that reason is better to use hydrating cream with sun protection.
If your skin is really fair, you won't need much exposure at all to cause a skin cancer.

I never understand why people cook themselves in the sun knowing the danger but then people still smoke don't they? Some skin is just more vunerable to cancer than others, it's all to do with pigmentation and genetics.

Good you got it early!!
Life is never quite fair to some of us.