Skin Cancer Awareness Month – Cover Up, Protect, And Live
Posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2018
May is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Learn how to protect yourself. Learn the signs.
(I posted this originally in 2011. Time has only proven the adage: knowledge is power.)
My Mom died within weeks after she was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant melanoma. A tiny spot on her skin had gone unnoticed. Caught early, melanoma can be treated successfully. Undetected, there is no hope. My Mom was a healthy woman. She should have been with us longer. We should have noticed that spot.
My Mom was also of the generation who didn’t take the sun’s harmful rays seriously. Why would she? Neither did I when I was young. But, the facts are:
- One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.
- Over the past 31 years, more people have had skin cancer than all other cancers combined.
- Nearly 800,000 Americans are living with a history of melanoma and 13 million are living with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer, typically diagnosed as basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma.
Specifically speaking of melanoma:
- One person dies of melanoma every hour (every 62 minutes).
- One in 55 people will be diagnosed with melanoma during their lifetime.
- The survival rate for patients whose melanoma is detected early, before the tumor has penetrated the skin, is about 99 percent. The survival rate falls to 15 percent for those with advanced disease.
- The vast majority of mutations found in melanoma are caused by ultraviolet radiation.
AND… if you think melanoma is an “old person’s” disease, think again:
- Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common form of cancer for young people 15-29 years old.
There are several factors which indicate a risk of developing melanoma. They are: sun exposure, number of moles on the skin, skin type, and family history. To learn the facts about prevention, detection, and treatment of melanoma, visit SkinCancer.org
Along with melanoma, you need to learn the facts about basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma:
- Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. An estimated 2.8 million are diagnosed annually in the US. Basal cell carcinomas are rarely fatal, but can be highly disfiguring if allowed to grow.
- Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common form of skin cancer. An estimated 700,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the US, resulting in approximately 2,500 deaths.
- Between 40% and 50% of Americans who live to age 65 will have either basal or squamous skin cancer at least once.
- About 90 percent of nonmelanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
- Treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancers increased by nearly 77% between 1992 and 2006.
Causes for these two types of skin cancer seems most often linked to sun exposure, but not always. Anyone with a history of sun exposure can develop basal cell carcinoma. However, people who are at highest risk have fair skin, blond or red hair, and blue, green, or grey eyes. With squamous cell carcinoma, it appears that chronic exposure to sunlight causes most cases.
To learn the facts about prevention, detection, and treatment of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, visit SkinCancer.org
Awareness is the first step.
Prevention is the second step.
In the following PSA, you’ll get a rather humorous reminder about your unprotected self.
You’re such a CUTIE! Keep it that way, please.
Are you using sun protection? No?
You may be saying…
“But I HATE all the sunscreen lotions I’ve tried!”
I hear you. Until recently, I could not find a sunscreen lotion for my face that I could tolerate. Either they were too greasy, too smelly, stayed white on my face, or burned my eyes. However, these days there are SO MANY great lotions and powders with lots of protection, you never have to go without! Ask your dermatologist, aesthetician, or a friend for recommendations. Never again will you have to go out unprotected!
I use CIRCADIA skin care products and Jane Iredale makeup. Both offer a full line of products with SPF to get you covered perfectly!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
I DO NOT receive any compensation for recommending this product. I just love it and think you will too.
p.p.s. Read about my own experience with a suspicious mole in my blog post – Standing Naked And Getting The Once Over. I’m sorry, again, Beverly.
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I’m scared to death of melanoma and the hubs acts as if it doesn’t even exist.
Hi Michele,
I understand completely. Same here. My chances are pretty high that I’ll have it sometime. And, yeah, my Hubby was pretty nonchalant when I had my bad mole. I blame it on denial. But, I don’t know.
Thanks for stopping by, Michele, and keep a close look on your beautiful skin. I intend to exchange comments with you for many, many years to come!
There is an interesting new study (Yao-Ping Lu, Piscataway, N.J.) showing that caffeine and exercise daily may protect against skin cancer caused by sun exposure. Both caffeine and exercise alone had positive effects, but the the best results were found for the combination of both. However, the study was done on mice.
it does make much more sense to prevent skin cancer than simply have “awareness” like breast cancer, it is quite preventable.
Agreed, Henry.
It’s really alarming to know that a lot of people die from melanoma every day. I also suddenly got too worried about the spots that my mother has on her back that I saw the other day. Maybe it’s time to get herself tested for skin cancer and see if she needs immediate treatment.