According to the American Cancer Society, most of the more than 1 million cases of non-melanoma skin cancer diagnosed yearly in the United States are considered to be sun-related.
In 2007, melanoma accounted for almost 60,000 cases of skin cancer. Out of the almost 11,000 deaths from skin cancer last year, 8,100 were from melanoma.
Knowing what the risk factors are for skin cancers and melanoma is half the battle in protecting yourself. Risk factors include:
- Fair complexion
- Unprotected and/or excessive exposure to UV radiation
- Family history
- Multiple or atypical moles
- Severe sunburns during childhood
- Occupational exposures to coal tar, pitch, creosote, arsenic compounds, or radium
Skin Cancer Prevention
One of the main preventive measures one can take to avoid skin cancer is not being out in intense sunlight for long periods of time. Some other preventive measures include:
- Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. avoid the sun.
- Search for shady spots to protect yourself under especially during the hottest times of the day.
- Put a shirt on or make sure your body is covered to prevent UV exposure. Make sure the clothing is made of tightly woven fabrics and that you can’t see through it when you hold it up to the light.
- Lather up on the sunscreen. Use sunscreen and lip balm with at least an SPF of 15. Use sunscreen even on days when it is cloudy or overcast. UV rays travel through clouds.
- Put on a hat. If you wear a baseball cap, lather on the sunscreen on your ears and neck.
- Wear sunglasses with 99% to 100% UV absorption to provide optimal protection for the eyes and the surrounding skin.
- Avoid tanning beds, tanning lamps and other sources of UV light. These are dangerous.
It used to be the standard for detecting melanoma was using what dermatologists called the “ABCDE” acronym.
- A stands for Asymmetry
- B stands for Border
- C for Color
- D for Diameter
- E for Evolving or changing
Using this method, a dermatologist or physician will look for moles that are not symmetrical, the borders are not round, the color is not typical of a mole, the diameter is as big or bigger than a pencil eraser, and the mole shape/color/size is changing.
This has been a great method to detect melanomas, but there are some melanomas that do not display the typical “ABCDE” signs. Because of this, specialists have created a new method for sight detection of melanoma - the “ugly ducking sign”.
Using this method, dermatologists are to look for skin lesions is based on the concept that these melanomas look different compared to surrounding moles. Furing skin self examination, patients and physicians should be looking for lesions that manifest the ABCDE’s and for lesions that look different compared to surrounding moles.
Using both methods should improve the chances for early detection for all types of melanoma.
A new study revealed that heart attack symptoms in women under the age of 55 get missed or dismissed. The study included 30 women who were under the age of 55, with an average age of 48, who previously had heart attacks. All of these women were interviewed within a week of leaving the hospital after their heart attacks.
In their interviews the women talked about when they initially recognized their symptoms and what they did about them. These are the problems women had in recognizing their symptoms:
- They thought they were too young to be having a heart attack.
- They had atypical symptoms that lasted for more than a day.
- They assumed their symptoms were due to other conditions not related to a heart attack.
Some of the women went for treatment right away but others did not. Some said they were too busy, uncertainty, perceived negative treatment from physicians, and a preference to self medicate.
The women also noted that health care workers didn’t always immediately recognize the fact that they were having a heart attack.
The findings were presented on May 1 in Baltimore at the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke Conference 2008.
There are four different categories for melanoma. Three of these types of melanoma begin in and live in the top layer of the skin - in situ - that can later become invasive. The fourth type of melanoma is invasive from the beginning. Invasive melanomas are more dangerous because they are living in deeper layers of the skin and it is easier for them to spread to other parts of the body.
Superficial spreading melanoma
This is the most common type of melanoma that people get and it is most often seen in young people. Superficial spreading melanoma accounts for 70% of all melanoma cases.
This type of melanoma lives along the top layer of the skin for a long time before penetrating into deeper layers of skin. According to the Skin Care Foundation:
The first sign is the appearance of a flat or slightly raised discolored patch that has irregular borders and is somewhat geometrical in form. The color varies, and you may see areas of tan, brown, black, red, blue or white. This type of melanoma can occur in a previously benign mole. The melanoma can be found almost anywhere on the body, but is most likely to occur on the trunk in men, the legs in women, and the upper back in both.
Lentigo maligna
This type of melanoma is similar to superficial spreading melanoma. Lentigo maligna will stay close to the skin surface for a long time before penetrating into deeper layers of the skin. It usually appears as a flat or mildly elevated mottled tan, brown or dark brown discoloration.
This type of melanoma is most often found in the elderly and will appear on sun exposed, damaged skin on the ears, face, arms and upper trunk. In Hawaii, this is the most common form of melanoma.
Acral lentiginous melanoma
This type of melanoma spreads superficially but is commonly found in African Americans and Asians. It is least commonly seen in Caucasians. This form of melanoma is different from the other types as it usually appears as a black or brown discoloration under the nails or on the soles of the feet or palms of the hands.
Nodular melanoma
This is the most dangerous form of melanoma and it is usually invasive from the start. The malignancy is recognized when it becomes a bump. It is usually black, but occasionally is blue, gray, white, brown, tan, red or skin tone.
The most frequent locations are the trunk, legs, and arms, mainly of elderly people, as well as the scalp in men. This is the most aggressive of the melanomas, and is found in 10 to 15 percent of cases.
Goodness, I never knew that skin cancer would be such a heated topic on here. Some woman even left a comment about how my picture of a woman sunbathing was “deceiving” because the commenter thinks that she is African-American and not Caucasian. Big deal! It is just a picture of someone sunbathing.
I will always stand by my conviction that tanning beds and sunbathing are dangerous and if you need more proof, read some of these personal blogs from melanoma victims. Some of these people are dead, some their spouses keep up the websites and others are survivors.
Bryce D. Brown - Deceased - His wife keeps up this site
Miss Melanoma - Survivor
Que Sarah, Sarah - Deceased
Melanoma, Life & Other Crazy Stuff - Deceased
Melanoma Research Foundation Forum
Sandy Robinson also is the blogger for her own website, Fighting Fatigue and the Fighting Fatigue Forum. On the WebbleYou Network, Sandy is co-blogger for the American Idolist blog.
| May 6th, 2008 | Tags: Author:
Sandy Robinson |
2 Comments
A recent research study found that men are more than 1 1/2 times likely than women to suffer from cognitive difficulties.
“These findings are in contrast to studies which have found more women than men [or an equal proportion] have dementia, and suggest there’s a delayed progression to dementia in men,” study author Rosebud Roberts, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a prepared statement. “Alternately, women may develop dementia at a faster rate than men.”
The study is based on interviews, examinations and cognitive tests conducted on 2,050 people — aged 70 to 89 — living in Olmsted County, Minn.
Overall, 15 percent of the group had mild cognitive impairment, which is when one has memory and other thinking skills somewhat worse than what can be expected based on the person’s age and education.
The rate of mild cognitive impairment was the same, regardless of a man’s education or marital status.
“This is one of the first studies to determine the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment among men and women who have been randomly selected from a community to participate in the study,” Roberts said.
Skin cancer is growing more and more common and getting the facts out there and raising awareness is so crucial if our country wants to get a handle on it. What is really sad is that skin cancer is diagnosed more than any other type of cancer, yet it is the one cancer that is the most preventable. Here are some facts about skin cancer that will shock you.
Over 90% of skin cancer is caused by sun exposure.
The sun’s UV rays are responsible for the non-melanoma skin cancers. Unprotected exposure to UV rays can come from many sources:
- Tanning booths
- Outdoors
- Car
- Windows at home
Skin cancer accounts for more than 50% of all cancers combined.
Skin cancer is diagnosed more among men and women than any other type of cancer.
One person dies every hour from skin cancer.
About 2,800 people will die of non-melanoma skin cancer and about 8,000 will die of melanoma in the U.S. this year.
There will be more than 1 million cases of skin cancer diagnosed annually.
And who are these people saying that tanning booths and sun exposure without the proper protection isn’t a problem?
Men are more likely to be diagnosed with skin cancer than women.
This was a surprising fact for me. I always assumed that more women got skin cancer because of tanning. The American Cancer Society says that men are twice as likely to get skin cancer than women. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in men over 50.
Skin cancer is most deadly for African Americans, Asians, and Latinos.
Although the risk factor is rather low for African Americans, Asians, and Latinos, skin cancer can be the most deadly for these groups.
Approximately one out of three Caucasians will get skin cancer at least once in their life.
For Americans as a whole group including all ethnicities, the numbers go to one out of five developing skin cancer.
One bad sunburn during childhood doubles a person’s risk for developing melanoma at some point in their life.
Always make sure your children are protected against UV exposure when they are outside. Even if they already have a tan they still need to be wearing sunscreen.
| May 6th, 2008 | Tags: Author:
Sandy Robinson |
1 Comment
Researchers believe they may have found a new form of treatment that will help depression - a brain pacemaker. Two large, lengthy and in depth studies have shown that a brain pacemaker can treat depression as well as obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr. Ali Rezai, head of neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic, who led the studies, said the technique known as deep brain stimulation helped the most severely depressed patients improve significantly. During the study there were no serious side effects found with using the brain pacemaker.
| May 5th, 2008 | Tags: Author:
Sandy Robinson |
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Recent research has found that the use of sunbeds during a person’s teens and twenties is linked to an increase in melanoma risk, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer used 19 international studies to conduct their research and what they found was that there is a strong association between using tanning beds and melanoma risk. For men and women of all age groups who have ever used a tanning bed their risk of developing melanoma was 15% higher than those who did not use a tanning bed. Based on 7 worldwide studies, people who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75%.
The study also found that the risk of squamous cell cancer in teenagers was significantly increased after their first use of a tanning bed. Squamous Cell Carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer and accounts for 2,500 deaths a year. Of the three major skin cancers, it is the one that has most clearly been linked to cumulative lifetime ultraviolet exposure.
The Skin Cancer Foundation states that over 2.3 million teenagers visit tanning salons each year. Where are the parents of these kids and why in the world are they letting them use tanning beds? Using tanning beds in the teen years and early twenties is when the risk of developing melanoma later is the greatest.
Source
| May 5th, 2008 | Tags: Author:
Sandy Robinson |
10 Comments
The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Road to Healthy Skin Tour kicks off this month to help promote National Skin Cancer Awareness Month. The Road to Healthy Skin Tour that is sponsored by Rite Aid and Aveeno will tour the country offering free full body skin cancer screenings.
The tour starts the beginning of May and will run through October, with the first stops being in New York.
The tour will stop in 40 cities, so if you are interested in having a full body cancer screening done, click here to see if the bus will be in your area.
| May 5th, 2008 | Tags: Author:
Sandy Robinson |
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