Skin as a possible book subject was on my mind and, well, under my skin for years before I started writing in earnest. This happened in 2020 during a magic week at Varuna, the Writers House, in Katoomba as part of a Griffith Review Writers Residency supported by the Graeme Wood Foundation. I thank each organisation, and Griffith Review editor Ashley Hay, for their support.
I was lucky enough to work once again with the ‘dream team’. Thanks to Tara Wynne, my agent at Curtis Brown, and at Penguin Random House Australia, my publisher Meredith Curnow, editor Kathryn Knight and proofreader Bronwyn Sweeney. Everything they have said and done has made the book better. With sensitivity and rigour, KK’s work prompts me to reconsider every lazy and flawed assumption I have made in my writing, and sometimes in my general thinking. Thanks too to indefatigable publicist Bella Arnott-Hoare, and to Veronica Eze and the Sound Kitchen crew on the audio side.
Monty Lyman’s The Remarkable Life of the Skin was a guiding light through much of my research, as must be obvious by the number of times I cite it. I can still remember where I was when I read the review that alerted me to its existence. I thought, ‘Damn, he’s written the book I wanted to write.’ Of course he hadn’t, because he is a young British doctor with vastly different experience to mine. I thank him for his generosity and for his important work. I also thank Nina Jablonski for her encouragement and for sharing various articles, but mainly for her extraordinary research and writing about skin over many years.
I interviewed a lot people for this book, consulted with many more and received countless suggestions and leads. I feel privileged that so many people were willing to share their often painful stories with me. COVID meant that many conversations happened online; in fact, had it not been written in a global pandemic, this book would have been quite different. Nevertheless, I did not expect to interview as many dermatologists as I did, or spend so many hours of lockdown in dermatology webinars. Maite Serra of The Skin Hospital in Darlinghurst, Sydney, opened more doors than she realised by giving me access to various webinars that introduced me to many of the dermatologists who appear in this book. Sarah Steadman at the Australasian College of Dermatologists was also helpful. I thank all the dermatologists I spoke to for sharing their insights, experiences and expertise, along with those oncologists, plastic surgeons, gerontologists, immunologists, public health experts and other medical specialists or allied health practitioners I interviewed or corresponded with: Peter Baume, Ketaki Bhate, Shelley F. Diamond, David Francis, Pascale Guitera, Monisha Gupta, David Gyorki, Elaine Henry, David Hill, Michelle Hunt, Shahrzad Jahromi, Preeti Joshi, Emma King, Alexander Menzies, Rosemary Nixon, Brittany Oliver, Hélène du Peloux Menagé, Pablo Fernandez-Peñas, Tineke Rietveld, Michelle Rodrigues, Julie Segre, Craig Sinclair, Robert Smith and Samuel Zagarella. Dermatologist Steven Chen’s words of encouragement, when I asked at the tail end of the writing process if I might reproduce one of his tweets, were much appreciated. I thank DermNet NZ for verifying to me how truly popular the site is, deservedly so.
I am especially grateful to Anand Deva and Andrew Ming for agreeing to be interviewed more than once, and at length. I thank Dr Ming for his care of my own skin. Anand Deva’s advocacy contributed to the welcome late 2021 announcement by the Australian national medical regulator that it is beginning a formal inquiry into the unregulated cosmetic surgery industry. Journalist Adele Ferguson’s investigative reporting on this should be noted as well.
To all those who agreed to be interviewed and who shared their often-emotional experiences, I thank you whether you are named or not. I hope I have done you and your stories justice: Katherine Tamiko Arguile, Angela Betheras, Bina Bhattacharya, Michael Brady, Dale Campisi, Monica Dux, Rodney Hanratty, Waen Jensen, Galina Laurie, Shaun Lehmann (who not only shared his family’s story but explained relevant details of genetics to me), Megan Oliver and Michelle Rowland. Stephanie Boyle at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra was so helpful and I am thankful she put me in touch with Miles Wootten, to whom I am also grateful. Thanks to beauty editor supremo Stephanie Darling as well. Film Club, Darlinghurst, really is the last, best video store on earth. And thanks to Phillip Adams for confirming the red Maserati story.
Some expert readers were kind enough to look at material in draft and I thank them for their advice and feedback. I take responsibility for any errors of fact or interpretation. Evolutionary biologist Professor Rob Brooks brought clarity and precision to what, for me, was terra incognita. I could not be more grateful. Professor Alan H. Goodman was extraordinarily generous and encouraging. (I commend to you his latest book Racism, not Race, co-authored with Joseph L. Graves Jr.) Dr Mark Valentine was good enough to read my account of the history of dermatology. Dr Clare Corbould’s guidance on race and history was invaluable. Dr Shakira Hussein once again was both a subject and a trusted adviser and supporter, and I thank her. Conversations with Dr Tim Soutphommasane, who also shared papers and research, helped clarify many matters. Dr Liz Allen was generous with demographic data. Dr Kate Bagnall and Dr Tim Sherratt shared and gave advice on their project ‘The Real Face of White Australia’. Professor Tess Lea put me onto Michael Taussig’s book and much besides. Richard White’s advice in many areas was priceless, though he probably didn’t expect to find himself reading The Age of Innocence with a red pen in hand.
Other historians, writers and journalists offered advice and suggestions at various stages, shared anecdotes that influenced my thinking, and made introductions: Lorena Allam, Michelle Arrow, Cath Bishop, Frank Bongiorno, Stephanie Bonson, Elise Edmonds, Marc Fennell, Caroline Ford, Julienne van Loon, Carol Major, Hannah McCann, Andonis Piperoglou, Henry Reynolds, Robert Reynolds, Peter Spearritt, Christine Wallace. Many others are cited in the book.
I thank those who have generously given permission for their words to be reproduced: Vernon Ah Kee, Nayuka Gorrie, Lee Kofman, Melissa Lam, Kylie Maslen, Christina Patterson and Ronnie Scott. Thank you too to all the copyright holders listed here.
So many friends and colleagues shared experiences, suggested people I might talk to, read early iterations of the proposal and offered general encouragement and assistance: Nicole Abadee, Joumana Awad, Sunil Badami, Caroline Baum, Bernadette Brennan, Susan Cole, Michael Coutts-Trotter, Emma Driver, Mara Dusevic, Tom Dusevic, Kate Evans, Rachel Franks, Anna Funder, Amrit Gill, Mathilde de Hauteclocque, Joanna Hore, Ruth Higgins, Heather Hunt, Rebecca Ivers, Roberta Ivers, Rowena Ivers (whose 1998 novel The Spotted Skin was inspired by Hansen’s disease patients in the Northern Territory), Toni King, Ursula King, Simon Lake, John Lam-Po-Tang, Karen Lindeland, Catherine Max, Jane McCredie, Harriet McInerney, John Melick, Elspeth Menzies, Sharon Mullins, Cameron Muir, Meredith Osborne, Naomi Parry, Catherine du Peloux Menagé, Tamson Pietsch, Tanya Plibersek, Letitia Prince, Sarah Runcie, Nick Sabel, Erin Shiel, Nella Soeterboek, Lachlan Strahan, Sam Twyford-Moore and Greg Waters. Special thanks to Cathe Stack and Carolin Window who, individually and from different perspectives, prompted me to set up dedicated files for articles they sent me and for their general wisdom and observations.
My extended family, whether through blood or marriage, has been a source of information and inspiration. It’s not in anyone’s interest that I name every relative, but I would like to thank Cathy Cameron Felder, Madeleine McDonell, Justine Suckling, Eleanor Suckling and Natalie Daalder, who was a tremendous supporter and facilitator. Lily McGuinness came through in a moment of need. Bianca Spender lived through one of the most difficult years of her life and not only managed to ask me how it was going but also listened to what I said. Nieces on different sides of the family, Daisy Reffold and Esther Suckling, became motivating forces when they asked me what chapter I was up to, or when the book was coming out.
That everyone might be lucky enough to have siblings as excellent, and hilarious, as mine. Big thanks to Jillian, Rod and Sam McGuinness. There is no one with whom I have had more conversations about dermatology than my mother, Robin, who identified my first BCC. I thank her for being the glorious sun around which our family revolves, and so much more. This book is dedicated to my father, Terry, who passed away while I was writing it, not long before the world went into lockdown in 2020. We miss him every day.
Having a daughter who could also act as an occasional reader of great intelligence and insight, and help me navigate the world of skincare, from its active ingredients to the discourse around it, has been an unexpected bonus on top of everything else that is so wonderful about Bella. My son Toby moved away to university when I was devoting myself full-time and obsessively to this book, but I still had lots of energy to put into missing him. I don’t think he moved away because he was sick of hearing about skin, but his sharp-minded refusal to make easy assumptions about anything has influenced the book. Adam Suckling found himself with more skin in the Skin Deep game than he possibly wished, including occasionally as a research subject, for better or worse, but mainly better. He has been a reader, a sounding board, a steadfast supplier of relevant sources but all that, really, is the least of it. Without his love and support I could not have started or finished this book.
In these pages and in life, I try not to be too prescriptive about anything but let me finish with these words: wear sunscreen.