In the last three or four years, I’ve noticed old men with bandaged faces - several at my church, out on the street, in court, etc., pretty often. I don’t remember seeing this nearly as much before, and I haven’t seen any women of the same approximate age thus bandaged. I don’t want to be rude and ask them what’s going on. It’s not from shaving, as the bandages are on foreheads, noses, ears, etc. Are more men having skin lesions removed, perhaps, than in the past?
Has anyone else noticed an uptick in bandaged old men around?
I know a lot of older men have skin cancer and often wear bandages after the growths have been removed. Could that be it? Are the bandages rather small?
My husband is in his seventies, and neither he nor anyone else he knows his age, wore sunscreen, and they spent most of their days running around, playing baseball or golf, working, fishing, and so on. It’s catching up to them now.
I’d be willing to bet many of them are getting (pre)cancerous moles removed. If you haven’t seen them in the past it could just be that 30 years ago people didn’t think much of them.
Another vote for skin cancer being the cause of the bandages.
It strikes me as likely that if you see fewer women of similar ages with bandages, it may well be partly vanity, but also an artifact of women not being allowed as much free time outdoors in the sun in their youth. Or more consistent application of sunscreen. Well, and I really wouldn’t rule out confirmation bias.
Around here the men with bandages on their faces, necks, hands and ears are likely to be the ones who drove the tractors. The women did more of their work indoors or in protected areas in the yard.
I know a few men that got skin cancer that was most likely the direct result of spending the previous 35 years of their life playing golf nearly every day they possibly could.
OTOH, my mom picked it up and she hardly ever spent any time in the sun…not she goes out of her way to spend even less time in it.
Also, I wouldn’t totally rule out confirmation bias. I work in a store across the street from a medical center. I see considerably more older men with bandages on their head/face then I do women. But it could be, as you said, vanity. The men are hungry, want lunch, don’t care. The women get the procedure done and go home.
I’ve lived in the desert. When I’ve seen or heard about someone with pre-cancerous lesions, it’s always a man.
Maybe it’s that women get the lesions removed at much earlier stages so they don’t need a bandage while men tough it out until it’s so big that it needs a bandage.
Mohs surgery, a common outpatient surgery to remove skin cancer, leaves you with a biggish bandage for a day or so. You have an initial surgery, wait around in the waiting room with a big bandage for an hour or so so they can analyze the skin and perhaps call you back in for more excision.
When I accompanied my husband at the dermatologist for his procedure, it was Mohs surgery day and the waiting room had more than a dozen older people sitting around with bandaged noses, ears, and cheeks, awaiting their diagnoses. Most of them were men.
I vote that women use sunblock or hats more often. We also have longer hair which acts to shade us a little.
It may also be that the few women who have moles removed are more vain about being seen in public with bandages, and so stay home until the bandage can be removed and maybe cover the wound with concealer.
OK, looks like I’m going to be the only one to stand up and tell you the horrible truth. There is a growing trend among older men in this country. It is more prevalent in the southwest but as I understand it there are pockets of men in every major city in the US and (likely) Canada. The only reason I know about it is because I was approached in a park by 5 older gentlemen, I guessed between the ages of 70-85, who wanted me to referee a match for them. I wasn’t sure what they meant, I figured maybe they were going to play some croquet and needed someone a bit more mobile than they who could walk the course and make rulings and such—spare them a few steps and put some unbiased eyes on the game, right? I couldn’t have been more wrong. Next thing I know, we’re in the basement of an old Irish pub (which I will not name) and two old fellahs are standing in a sand pit, shirtless, putting up their dukes and giving each other some truly intimidating looks. I was given a whistle, and told to blow it only when there was a clear victor. Immediately these duffers went at each other swinging fists, pulling comb-overs, and…biting. Now these guys were pretty frightening to behold, but they were old and let’s face it, pretty weak and immobile. But the biting, dear gawd, I’ve never seen anything like it. The worst bites were to the feet, oddly enough, but there were a fair few injuries to noses, fingers, ears, and cheeks as well. I had to watch half a dozen fights before the combat ended. Like old friends, these guys saw to each other’s wounds, carefully cleaning and dressing them in gauze. It was my first introduction to Bite Club. The first rule of Bite Club is, of course, “You do not talk about Bite Club.” It is only through the anonymity provided by this message board that I dare reveal the above to you, and I only do so in the spirit of fighting ignorance surrounding this terrible, yet fascinating, spectacle. Like it or not, I am in for life and will be expected to participate upon my 70th birthday provided I have at least 6 of my natural teeth.