Surprising Skin Cancer Facts That Should Make You Take Action
Although we’ve bypassed the halfway point of 2016, more than 5,000 people have lost their battles against skin cancers such as melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Yet the war continues around the world.
Skin cancer is a highly preventable type of cancer. Why then have so many people died from complications related to it? These surprising reasons might catch your attention and by taking these facts into consideration now, you can potentially prevent a deadly condition:
Complexion Does Not Matter
As long as ultraviolet radiation can damage cells, anyone can get skin cancer. Lighter skin color can make someone more susceptible to burns and any damage puts a person at higher risk of adverse cellular changes that can create cancer.
Sunscreen Wears Off
Sunscreen is only effective for a certain amount of time. A high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) number doesn’t guarantee all day protection. You should use a proper amount of sunscreen thirty minutes before sun exposure and reapply it approximately every two hours.
Skin Cancer Has Many Forms
Marks with certain shapes, colors and textures are more likely cancer than others, such as moles with irregular borders and red patches that flake and bleed without fully healing. That said, it is important to have a dermatologist carefully inspect your skin during a routine skin cancer checkup as any mark might contain cancer cells.
Cancer Does Not Discriminate
Although some groups experience higher cancer incidents for various reasons such as complexion or age-related cellular damage, skin cancers appear in every ethnic group and at any age. Furthermore, skin damage from sunburns in children can increase their risk of developing skin cancer later in life.
People Rarely Check
Many of the thousands who died so far this year probably did not take the time to check their skin regularly for the sudden appearance of new marks and spots or changes in old ones. Many of them may have never followed up with a dermatologist if they did find changes until it was too late.
Without treatment, skin cancer spreads into other organs. You can prevent and treat skin cancer long before that happens if you create a plan of attack based on these little known facts.