What You Need to Know About Skin Cancer
By: Emma Boivin
Tags: Cancer, Skin Treatment, Skin Cancer, Skin Care Tips, Skin Cancer Treatment

Despite the constant warnings about needing to protect skin from sun damage, sometimes you’d think that Americans have never heard a word of them. Here are some very scary estimates about sun damage from the American Academy of Dermatology:

1- At least 73 million Americans get sunburned each year.

2- More than 123 million show the effects of getting too much sun.

3- More than 50 million Americans are well on their way to developing some form of skin cancer and already have its precursors: a red, patchy, flaky spot called actinic keratosis (AK).

4- More than 1.2 million Americans develop a skin cancer every year, more than all other cancers combined.

These statistics should be more than a wake-up call. They should move you to protect yourself now with an effective skin-care regimen and get you to act at the first signs of trouble.

THE CAUSES OF SKIN CANCER

What we have learned over the last few years is that two things cause skin cancer: the first is a dose of sunlight that changes the DNA in the cells in our skin. The second is ongoing sun exposure that prods the cancer to grow out of control. The second cause is why protection today can stop cancers, even if they were started years ago.

So who gets skin cancer? Among the expected factors is a family history or a personal history of skin cancer — which means some people are just born with a predisposition to the disease. People with light-colored eyes, light-colored hair, and fair skin tend to get more skin cancer than those with darker coloring. The amount of lifetime sun exposure is also a good predictor, and for reasons we don’t completely understand, the number of childhood sunburns also increases the risk. (This applies particularly to melanoma, where the intensity of the sun, and not the total amount, is most important.)

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SKIN CANCER

BASAL CELL CARCINOMA (BCC)

The most common form of skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma (BCC), which appears on the skin as a raised pearly bump or wound with a hard edge that doesn’t heal. Fortunately, BCC is not metastatic, and once it’s removed, the likelihood of recurrence of that cancer is very low, but it does mean you have an increased risk of getting another BCC somewhere else on your skin.

SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA (SCC)

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is only one-third as common as BCC and is about four times more common in men than women. It is the skin cancer most closely related to total sun exposure. The first sign is often a rough, flaky patch of skin called an actinic keratosis, which can disappear on its own, remain unchanged, or become an SCC. SCCs can also appear as a bump resembling a wart, without starting out as an AK. They are completely curable if caught in time, but left alone they do metastasize and can kill.

MELANOMA

Melanoma is only about one-tenth as frequent as BCC but is the most deadly form of skin cancer. It arises from the pigment-producing cells, and neither BCC nor SCC ever develops into melanoma. It usually appears as a dark but unevenly colored freckle or mole with a ragged edge. Typically, it is asymmetrical — meaning one half is larger or shaped differently than the other half. A melanoma lesion doesn’t have to be larger than an eraser at the end of a pencil, or raised above the skin’s surface, or even be painful to be deadly. The best defense against melanoma is to catch it early; all suspicious spots should be checked by a dermatologist immediately.

SELF-EXAMINATION

You can also do a self-exam for all types of skin cancer at home — and this can cut your chance of dying from melanoma by more than 50 percent. What you are looking for is a wound, maybe with a hard edge, that doesn’t heal; a raised bump with a pearly color; flaky, red patches; or an irregularly shaped or unevenly colored mole.

Assemble two mirrors, a chair, a pencil or a blow-dryer in a well-lit room. To examine the scalp, stand in front of the mirror and run the pencil through a section of hair. Lift the base of the hair shaft up to look at the skin. You can also use a blow-dryer to separate the hair and check the scalp. Start from the bottom and work up. For the back of the head use a second mirror in one hand and the pencil or blow-dryer in the other.

Next, check the head and face, and then move on to the hands (don’t forget the nails), elbows, arms, and underarms. Women must also check under their breasts. Use the second mirror to check the back of the neck, upper arms, back, and buttocks. Men need to pay particular attention to the trunk, where their cancer rates are higher.

Then, sit down on the chair and carefully examine the legs — where women must be especially careful because their cancer rates are higher here. Use the second mirror for the back of the legs and don’t forget to check between your toes and on the soles of your feet.

TREATING SKIN CANCER

The best way to treat skin cancer is surgical excision, especially a technique called Mohs surgery, which confirms by microscope that the cancer and a margin of healthy tissue around it have been removed. Topical treatment with the drug Efudex is harsh (causing burning red skin) but effective, while the topical drug imiquimod and light therapy are less irritating and are promising improvements. Unfortunately, few effective treatments for melanoma are available if surgical excision doesn’t work.

PRACTICE SAFE SUN!

Baking in the sun unprotected and getting roasted at the tanning salon won’t give you a healthy bronze glow. Instead, they give you prematurely photoaged skin. But you can still enjoy the outdoors if you take reasonable precautions.

1- Find sunscreens with an SPF 15 and an SPF 30 that you like and stick with them.

2- Get in the habit of putting on the SPF 15 sunscreen every morning. Be sure to apply it at least twenty to thirty minutes before going outside.

3- Make one of your mantras “If I don’t wear sunscreen every day, I know that I am damaging my skin.”

4- Always use a sunscreen with SPF 30 when you expect to have more than a few minutes of casual exposure to the sun. Use as much as you feel comfortable putting on.

5- If your sunscreen bottle is lasting for more than a couple of weeks during the summer, you’re not using enough!

6- Don’t stop there, When you’re outdoors, find shade when you can.

7- Wear hats with broad brims (at least four inches). Get used to having them be a regular part of your wardrobe.

8- Try to wear clothing that has the highest SPF that you can stand. You don’t have to wear a sweater when it’s broiling hot out, but a dark shirt will give you a lot more protection than a gauzy wrap.

9- Supplement your sun protection, morning and night, with a DNA repair cream.

10- Make another one of your mantras “It’s never too early to start protecting myself from photoaging!”