The skin is the largest organ of the body. It is the barrier between our inner and outer worlds. Our skin in one of the most important elements and yet it is one so often overlooked. We take our skin for granted much of the time, rarely believing that anything bad could come to something that regenerates itself. However, nearly half of all cancers come from skin cancer and melanoma. Think about this:
Taking care of our skin is one of the easiest acts we can do every day of our lives. For those in our families who are younger, we can take care of their skin and model good examples of skin care. Wonderful sun protection clothing is available in infant sizes so that those who need some of the best skin protection can start their lives with it. For those of us who are older, we can begin our days by applying a good, strong sunblock to all our exposed pieces before we leave the house. Add a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses and we are ready to face the world. A few simple but vital steps.
Protecting our skin is one of the simplest efforts we can make. Think about it and give it a try.
1. Reducing risk of melanoma is important, but even if you avoid tanning many people are at high risk. The key is to discover suspicious skin lesions at an early stage while they are nearly 100% curable. Check moles for A)symmetry, for irregular B)orders, for multiple C)olors, for a D)iameter larger than a pencil eraser and for E)volution which is an enlarging or new mole. These are the ABCDE's for self-screening.
It is important to keep checking for new or changing moles, particularly if you are at risk. Those that have had a melanoma removed may be cured but they are at high risk for recurrence of new melanomas. If you have a lot of moles it is very hard (impossible really) to be able to tell if new or changing ones are present though.
DermAlert is an image comparison software program developed through funding from the National Cancer Institute that is inexpensive and lets you use your digital camera in the privacy of your own home to find changing moles over time. Then you can point out the changes to your dermatologist. You can see details and demo at www.dermalert.com
Posted at 1:44PM on May 17th 2007 by Brian