Posted on 04/18/2006 4:17:39 PM PDT by tbird5
There is an unrecognized epidemic of skin cancer underway in the United States, the American Academy of Dermatology warns.
One in five Americans will develop skin cancer, and a person's risk of the disease doubles if he or she has had five or more sunburns, according to a report in the April issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Basal and squamous cell carcinomas, the most common and treatable types of skin cancers, had long been considered a problem only for people over 50, according to the report. But Mayo Clinic researchers found that the percentage of women under 40 with the more common type, basal cell, tripled between 1976 and 2003, while the rate of squamous cell cancers increased four-fold
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
"....and a person's risk of the disease doubles if he or she has had five or more sunburns,..."
Well that's it - I may as well through in the towel and just plant myself in the ground.
I think that should read "blistering" sunburns.
I'm like you. 5 SBs were a good month for me. But nothing terribly serious (though some did sting a bit).
well I'm at 5 blistering sunburns right now :)
Click on this link and scroll down to pictures at your own risk: http://www.emedicine.com/DERM/topic401.htm
Me too. I have had several irregular moles removed. I live in Phoenix and you will never catch me with any color. I make Nicole Kidman look like a sun goddess these days.
WOW.......that is all I can say.
Thank you for the heads up.
This has been a very interesting thread to read.
I was never really one to do any sunbathing, and the idea of a tanning bed/salon is truly alien to me. But I do remember when I was a teenager in the 70s my grandfather being on me constantly about wearing a hat and sunscreen when I was outside, even when cutting grass (and that's how I made money in the summers as a teenager)
You haven't been to the store lately. Have you seen the sunscreen sticks? I like the ones that feel dry after you put it on. You just take the stick and rub it on your face. I keep one in my purse at all times, and one in my car.
Yep. My brother's cancer was not ignored. He was constantly at the doctors for over 20 years.
My sister-in-law said that my brother was one of about 5-6 people in the world who actually die from the cancer he had.
He tried all sorts of experimental treatments. Supposedly, he's mentioned in text books.
It was always very aggressive. It started on the top of his head when he was in his early 20s.
I had a mole on my back start changing and had it taken off by my family doctor (we lived in a small town at the time and the nearest surgeons, etc. were an hour away). When the biopsy came back showing that it was melanoma, even though the report indicated that all the cancer was removed, I was sent off to a surgeon and hospitalized for a much greater excision of the area. Thankfully, it was all clean and I was declared free of cancer. I went for quarterly check-ups at first, then semi-annually, and finally just annual check-ups.
..... That was 32 years ago! My doctor told me at the time that had the melanoma metastisized, I would probably have died within a year.
Over the years since then, I have had probably 50 moles removed and all came back with negative biopsies ... until last year.
I had had a small cyst on the bridge of my nose for years but it began to act and look different. I had it removed by a plastic surgeon because of the location and it was, as he suspected, a basal cell carcinoma.
Just last month I went back to the same doctor for my skin check-up and he decided to excise one mole on my thigh. At the last moment on the day of the surgery he impulsively decided to do a punch biopsy on another mole nearby that he hadn't been concerned about just a week before. The biopsy on that one showed 'moderate to severe atypia' ... just one step shy of melanoma. I was back in his office having more extensive surgery on the day that the stitches came out of the first incision.
The lab report showed that all the atypical tissue was removed with the second surgery and I am thanking God for the doctor's last minute decision to do that punch biopsy.
My mother's sister had melanoma twice so I guess it's in the genes. And I have given my red-headed, blue-eyed son extra lectures on watching for changes to his skin and getting to a doctor immediately. He is probably in a pretty high-risk group, given his family history and his coloring.
PLEASE, FRiends, do not wait if you notice any area on your skin changing. It's not pleasant having a mole or cyst removed ... but it's one heckuva lot better than having melanoma spread throughout your body!
No, I'll have to check that out. Thanks.
When God wants you back....
Actually, isn't skin cancer one of the more easily cured cancers?
If you catch it in the very early stages, it may be cureable!
However, it can be very fatal. It can be dormant for a period of time and come back with a vengance. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and the melanoma can go any where in your body and metastisize to any organ and wipe you out!
Melanoma is very unforgiving disease. I can relate many cases to you where a person might have a little mole on the back on her neck and within a five year period have her brain metastisize along with her lungs and other organs.
Sun Tans can kill you. Avoid tanning beds and sitting in the sun. You may think it is cool to get a sun tan but you are playing Russian Roulette with your life. It can be worst than smoking cigarettes.
If you need that "Tan Look" , spray it on your body!
Go to the website www.mpip.org and get all the information you need on skin cancer.
My thoughts for what they worth! I am dealing with melanoma at this time!
Several Melanoma Warriors have weighed in on this discussion. It is not rare and it is not something to be dismissed as a minor inconvenience. I have lost good friends in the battle, others here have lost family members.
The words "just" and "cancer" do not go together, no matter what body system is involved!
Melanoma changed my perspective on life and makes me appreciate every morning I wake up!
Have a great day!
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