John Cena is sharing advice after he was diagnosed with skin cancer.
Cena, 48, was diagnosed with melanoma twice, first with a spot on his left pectoral muscle and again a year later when another spot on his left upper trapezius muscle was also cancerous.
“I received the phone call twice, ‘Hey, you’ve got to come back, because the biopsy came back cancerous,'” Cena recalled
“That information is sobering, and it right there prompted me to change my life.”
After his skin cancer scare, the 17-time WWE Champion said he immediately made applying sunscreen part of his daily routine.
“Skincare is a more palatable and accepted term and subject matter amongst women,” he told USA Today.
“Discussions between men can be more difficult to initiate. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” he stressed.
“Men especially, are becoming more conscious of self-care… I just think we need to make it more commonplace.”
Women are twice as likely than men to wear sunscreen and by age 50 men have a greater risk for developing melanoma than women.
However, at any age, men are more likely to d!e from melanoma than women, according to the American Academy of Dermotology.
“SPF is more common in the vernacular of women, and that’s because it is directly correlated with beauty,” Cena said.
Women’s morning skincare routine provides an ideal time for sunscreen application, something Cena said men must pay more attention to.
“If someone uses SPF, because they don’t want to get wrinkles, it’s like someone going to the gym saying, ‘I want to be ripped.’ But being ‘ripped’ is essentially making healthier choices,” he explained.
“So you can go to the gym for aesthetic purposes, but the reward of training goes far more than just aesthetic beauty. I think SPF is in the same lane.”
Cena noted that it’s “super easy” to be more conscious of your skin.
“I’ve done some pretty aspirational things in the strength and health department, as far as nutritional choices and training regimens, and that’s really complicated, difficult stuff,” he said.
But wearing SPF is just like “brushing your teeth,” he added.
Cena said he would love to see a tube of sunscreen right next to men’s toothpaste and see them remember to use it daily.
“My perspective on life has changed, but it took some real sobering news,” he said.
“I don’t want anybody to get there, so I’m just trying to use my platform to get ahead of that one.”
