I am not a dogmatic person. Not dogmatic about religion, science, food, education, nor anything else. Because I'm lazy. And because I have a personality that tests boundaries. I tend to poke them, checking for squishiness and to see where they wobble. Everything wobbles. We live on a round planet filled with fluid, spinning, moving in a circle, floating in a void. When you encounter an expert telling you something for sure, eh. Few things are sure.

When I was 22 I was diagnosed with an actinic keratosis. I was diagnosed by the premiere dermatologist in our state at the time. The man was intensely well respected and he knew me personally, if vaguely. I'm his daughters age and we grew up together. Professionally and in a fatherly way, he was paying attention when I walked into his office. He was not a bit flippant. He was concerned. At the time he diagnosed me, he was 25 years into his career and considered expert. He said he'd never seen anyone with an actinic keratosis at my age. He said the prognosis was not exactly grim or dire, but could become grim and dire. He implored me to become a freak about avoiding the sun.

Me, a freak? Easily done, already there. After he burnt that spot off the front of my face, I spent 24 hours drinking malt liquor, smoking Winstons, journaling about end-times, and listening to Ricki Lee Jones--presumably for balance. Oh the drama. The next day I decided to take matters into my own hands. I forswore the sun. Vowed to become vampirish and drove my vegetarian inclinations to a raw fresh green place. I began a fretful existence nibbling lettuce in the dark. It was an ugly summer. The good doctor rightly meant to scare me and he did.

But life continued. I got bored with fear and lettuce. And I got more actinic keratosis-es. As he said I would.  I had them burned off again and again. And I began to experiment. I found various oils would slow their growth if I was obsessive about rubbing them in. Which led to to theories about dehydration. Over the years I began to think of crusty skin as a lack of internal vapor, (I am southern, after all.) I drank water nearly to intoxication. (Which gave me electrolyte problems, but that's another post.) Oils and waters helped, though. And piqued my curiosity. I remained piously vegetarian another 5 years.

Over the years I noticed patterns about the arrival of actinic keratosis. They showed up in the summer and in the winter, with exposure to sun and woodstoves, in times of dehydration, in times of heavy drinking. On my cheeks, my forehead, my ears, and eventually my thighs. Curiously, sometimes I could oil and rehydrate them away. Which I told doctors and was, of course, poo-pooed. Years later I read that sometimes actinic keratosis will spontaneously disappear. Oh, they can go away on their own? Its ON, bitches.

Fast forward through 20 years of experimentation. I am a rational and less mercurial adult. I'm also a lot more sober and realistic. And we need to edit this story down. To sum up, here is what I've noticed. All the literature says sun exposure causes actinic keratosis. If that's true, its only partly true. Actinic keratosis is, like probably nearly most health issues, a nutritional problem. Switching my diet over to raw milk at age 43 DRAMATICALLY reduced the bi-yearly arrival of them, for me. A year after I switched to raw milk, I found Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" and even though I think the "science" therein is absurdly flimsy, those folks are onto something. I began pushing liver, more meat, and saturated fats in my diet. Culminating with drinking raw cod liver oil three times a week.

I haven't had an actinic keratosis in over a year. The several I had in the years prior, I made go away without having to have them burned off. This does not mean I have cured them. I will probably get them again. I'm 46. I grew up nutritionally compromised, I flatly abused my body in my 20s, there was never a summer in my childhood I wasn't burned to blistering multiple times, and I'm getting older.

I'm still not dogmatic. I occasionally eat at The Cracker Barrel. I still eat sugar. And I will never be a purist---no matter how scared I get, purity just isn't in my nature. And one more thing. FUCK sun screen. I don't use it and never have. I did spend the last 20 years avoiding exposure to summer sun between 11 and 4:00, but mostly because I hate to get overheated. I began drinking raw milk because I bought a cow, not for nutritional reasons. The nutritional benefits of raw milk dawned in me as an absolutely unexpected gift. But raw milk also put me outside tending livestock. Now I relish the sun. I don't avoid it pointedly and will often pause to bask my face in its warmth. Though I still hate to get overheated and often seek shade.

I think saturated fat and sunshine are healthy. If you have been diagnosed with actinic keratosis, you have more control than any doctor will say. Because they don't know. Even though they are scientific experts. Because we live on a wobbly ball. And because our society is foolish and dependent on authority. Go clean up your diet, eat some butter, drink some water, and sit in the sun. You will feel better and everything is going to be okay.

ps: Still not dogmatic, even in my absolute conviction that sunscreen is a toxic scam. Everyone probably should put zinc oxide on their noses and ears at the beach. Zinc oxide is good for your skin, especially if you have actinc keratosis. Rub it into your lesions and it will help them go away.