But all of that sun has a downside. Exposure to the UV radiation the sun produces is the primary cause of skin cancer. As summer approaches and longer days give us even more reasons to enjoy the outdoors, Cortez family physician Jill Schenk, MD, has a piece of advice we should all heed: protect your skin.<\/p>\n
There are three main types of skin cancer: squamous cell, basal cell, and melanoma. These three cancers show up in different ways on the body. Schenk says anyone who has a sore or abnormal spot on their skin that does not clear up within a month, a mole or other lesion that appears very suddenly, or any type of irregularly shaped or colored mole should have it checked out by their primary care provider.<\/p>\n
Squamous cell cancer starts out as a pre-cancerous lesion called actinic keratosis. \u201cThese are little crusty spots on the skin that just don\u2019t heal up. If you do nothing, in 5-10 years they can become a squamous cell skin cancer,\u201d said Schenk. Caught early, these lesions can be \u201cfrozen\u201d off in the doctor\u2019s office. If they\u2019re not treated until a little later, they might have to be cut out instead. Pre-cancerous spots may also be treated with a chemical peel which is sometimes necessary to treat a large area. \u201cWhen I see patients with these types of lesions I recommend that they get checked every 6-12 months. The original spots might not come back, but very often new ones appear,\u201d said Schenk.<\/p>\n
Basal cell cancers tend to first appear on the skin as a small ulceration that may or may not bleed. \u201cThe problem with basal cell skin cancer is that it\u2019s challenging to remove the entire lesion, especially on places like the nose,\u201d said Schenk. This is why it\u2019s important to have suspicious spots on the skin evaluated sooner rather than later. \u201cWhen a lesion gets large, like eraser sized, we have to take a large chunk of skin out.\u201d Basal cell cancer tends not to migrate throughout the body. Instead, basal cell invades and destroys local issue which can result in disfigurement, even when it\u2019s removed.<\/p>\n
Melanoma is the third type of skin cancer and by far is the most serious. \u201cMelanoma has a variety of presentations. The classic appearance is a dark, multi-colored, irregularly shaped mole, but that\u2019s not always the case, which makes it challenging to diagnose,\u201d said Schenk. \u201cIf a lesion shows up suddenly or is larger than an eraser, or starts to grow, that\u2019s a big concern.\u201d At this point it\u2019s possible that the cancer has spread to local tissue, to the lymphatic system, or to a variety of organs in the body. \u201cIt can go anywhere, and it can show up again years after the original lesion has been removed,\u201d said Schenk.<\/p>\n
The good news is the skin cancer is highly preventable. You simply need to protect your skin from the dangerous UV rays of the sun. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to be outside between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for more than five minutes, then wear broad-spectrum sunscreen,\u201d said Schenk. She recommends, at minimum, an SPF of 15 (30 is better). In addition, wearing a large-brimmed hat and long sleeves is a smart move when gardening, irrigating, hiking, horseback riding, or engaging any other activity that will keep you outside for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re tempted to venture outside without protecting your skin, consider these statistics. One in five adults will have some type of skin cancer during their lifetime. It\u2019s the most common type of cancer, outranking breast, prostate, lung, and colon cancer. Eighty-six percent of melanomas and 90 percent of squamous cell and basal cell cancers are caused by sun exposure. It\u2019s estimated that the annual cost to treat melanoma in the U.S. in 2010 was $2.63 billion. \u201cWe could reduce these costs dramatically if everyone would just use sunscreen,\u201d said Schenk, noting that taxpayers pick up a large portion of the health-care tab. \u201cDaily use of SPF 15 or higher sunscreen will reduce squamous cell cancer by 40 percent and melanoma by 50 percent,\u201d said Schenk.<\/p>\n
The risk for melanoma (the most common form of cancer in people aged 25-29) doubles in individual who have had more than five sunburns over the course of their lives life or if they experience a single blistering sunburn during childhood. \u201cIt is especially important to protect children and babies when they are outdoors because their skin is so sensitive to the damaging effects of UV radiation,\u201d said Schenk.<\/p>\n
As with all cancers, early detection is essential. In the case of melanoma, the five-year survival rate is 98% if it\u2019s detected early. That figure goes down to 60% if the cancer gets into the lymphatic system and drops to 15% if it spreads to another organ in the body. Tell you health-care provider about any unusual moles or growths and ask for an \u201call over\u201d skin check when you have your annual physical.<\/p>\n
For anyone concerned about what\u2019s in sunscreen and the myths that chemicals in the products are causing an increase in skin cancer diagnosis, Schenk says to put that worry aside. \u201cThere is no evidence that I\u2019m aware of that sunscreens are carcinogenic. But the UV rays from the sun definitely cause skin cancer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In addition, Schenk says tanning beds should never be used. \u201cOne tanning bed session increases the risk of squamous cell skin cancer by 67%, and the vast majority of melanoma in people under 30 is attributed to tanning beds,\u201d said Schenk.<\/p>\n
If the risk of getting skin cancer isn\u2019t motivation enough to make you cover up and protect your skin when going outdoors, perhaps the desire to remain younger looking will be. \u201cNinety percent of visible changes of aging such as wrinkles and dark spots are caused by sun damage,\u201d said Schenk. \u201cPeople who use sunscreen daily have 25% less skin aging than those who don\u2019t.\u201d You can\u2019t turn back the clock, but it\u2019s never too late to start protecting your skin and maintaining a youthful appearance for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Southwest Health Notes is a public service feature provided by Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, Colorado. The information provided herein is not intended as patient-specific medical advice or as a substitute for consultation with your personal health-care provider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
all of that sun has a downside. Exposure to the UV radiation the sun produces is the primary cause of skin cancer. As summer approaches and longer days give us even more reasons to enjoy the outdoors, Cortez family physician Jill Schenk, MD, has a piece of advice we should all heed: protect your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5758,6395],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-120558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columnists","category-columnists-southwest-health-notes"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120558"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=120558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}