Hello!
As an Esthetician and someone who is passionate about healthy skin, this is a very important topic to me! Skin cancer is a real thing, and it's actually a very common thing. Most people don't even think about the sun exposure they have accumulated until it's too late. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and over the past three decades, more people have had skin cancer than all other cancers combined! Crazy, right?
In this post I am going to explain the different types of skin cancer, how to protect your skin, and give a few facts about skin cancer along the way!
As an Esthetician and someone who is passionate about healthy skin, this is a very important topic to me! Skin cancer is a real thing, and it's actually a very common thing. Most people don't even think about the sun exposure they have accumulated until it's too late. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and over the past three decades, more people have had skin cancer than all other cancers combined! Crazy, right?
In this post I am going to explain the different types of skin cancer, how to protect your skin, and give a few facts about skin cancer along the way!
The different types of skin cancer.
- Actinic keratosis is the premalignant condition of scaly, crusty, flat and raised, patches or bumps that form on the skins surface. They can vary in size from a pinhead up to an inch across. This can usually be a sign of development of skin cancer and should be treated by a Dermatologist to prevent it from increasing in size. Actinic keratosis affects more than 58 million Americans.
- Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer resulting in abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin's outermost layer of skin (the basal cells). They can often look like open sores, red patches, pink growths, shiny bumps, or scars.
- Squamous Cell Carcinoma is an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells arising in the squamous cells, which compose most of the skin's upper layers. They often look like scaly red patches, open sores, elevated growths with a central depression, or wart that may crust or bleed.
- Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. These cancerous growths develop when unrepaired DNA damage to skin cells triggers mutations that cause the skin cells to multiply rapidly and form malignant tumors (mostly caused by UV radiation from the sun or tanning beds). They most often resemble moles since the majority of melanomas are black or brown. Some develop from moles, but they can also be skin-colored, pink, red, purple, blue or white.
How to protect your skin!
- Seek the shade! Avoid being in direct sunlight, especially between 10-4 when ultraviolet exposure is the highest.
- Avoid sunburns. Sunburns significantly increase your risk of cancer, so precautions should be taken to avoid them.
- Do not use tanning beds. Frequent tanning bed users may receive as much as 12 times the annual UVA dose compared to the dose they receive from sun exposure.
- Use a sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher everyday.
- Apply and reapply! Apply sunscreen to all exposed areas 30 minutes before going outside and reapply every 2 hours or immediately after swimming or sweating.
- Cover up! Wear clothes and other pieces such as wide-brimmed hats or UV blocking sunglasses that will further prevent sun exposure.
- Examine yourself regularly. Check your skin at least monthly for changes in moles or spots with changing texture, color, shape or size.
- Visit a Physician yearly. It is recommended to see a Dermatologist or a skin specialist at least yearly or more if you have a history of skin cancer.
Now go out and buy your sunscreen, big hats, and be smart while you enjoy summer activities or your next vacation! And if you need a little more push to protect your skin, know that more than 90% of the visible changes commonly attributed to skin aging are caused by the sun! If you aren't excited about wrinkles and sagging skin, it's time to get serious about protecting your skin!
If you have questions, feel free to post them below, or if you want more information check out a few of these helpful websites where I learned the statistics about skin cancer...
If you have questions, feel free to post them below, or if you want more information check out a few of these helpful websites where I learned the statistics about skin cancer...