Educate Yourself in Skin Cancer Detection!

As baby boomers age, skin cancer affects more and more lives. Do you know the signs to watch for, the treatments available and your options? Education is key to surviving Melanoma.

Basal cell carcinoma is the most common cancer in humans, squamous cell cancer is the second and both may increase your risk of developing the third most common skin cancer, melanoma. Melanoma is a tumor which begins in the cells which produce the skin’s pigment, and may be deadly if left untreated.

Early detection is the key. Check your own body for new or changing moles, lesions or other spots on your skin once a month, and visit a dermatologist for a professional skin check annually. Any lesion which changes size, shape, or color, or that begins to itch, doesn’t heal, bleeds intermittently, or becomes worse over the course of a month should be examined right away.

Remember your mnemonic ABCD’s and ‘E’s:

Asymmetrical skin lesion.
Border of the lesion is irregular.
Color: melanomas usually have multiple colors.
Diameter: moles greater than 5 mm are more likely to be melanomas than smaller moles.
Evolution: The evolution (ie change) of a mole or lesion may be a hint that the lesion is becoming malignant -
or– Elevation: The mole is raised or elevated above the skin.

Don’t procrastinate – if you wait until the mole or lesion looks like a ‘text-book’ study case, it may already be too late to catch the melanoma in it’s early stages. Skin cancer awareness is very important and education is key to maintaining your good health and increasing your chances of living a long, enjoyable life.