Ever wonder why dermatologists pay so much attention to moles? It's because serious skin cancer can play a hide-and-seek game on a patient's skin, masquerading as an innocent blemish. Being able to differentiate between harmless growths on the skin and abnormal ones could save your life one day.
A normal mole is a circle or oval less than ¼ inch in diameter, with well-defined edges. Its profile is flat or dome-shaped, and it ranges in color from pink to dark brown. Most moles appear by the time you reach age 30, so carefully monitor any mole that appears later than that.
Most people have from 10 to 40 moles, according to the National Cancer Institute. They often begin as a tiny, flat spot that grows in width, over years, and may become raised. Sometimes they flatten out again, take on the color of surrounding skin, and disappear.
Dermatologists say the following could be signs of skin cancer and should be reported immediately to your doctor:
- A mole with a crusty growth.
- A mole that bleeds, itches, or includes a sore that does not heal.
- A mole that grows quickly.
Shielding Yourself From the Sun's Radiation
Aside from brimmed hats and long sleeves, sunscreen is one of the most effective tools for minimizing sun damage to your skin. As with any tool, understanding how it works increases the odds that it will do a good job for you. Sunscreens can be made from a number of ingredients that either absorb or reflect Ultraviolet radiation (often identified by two varieties of wavelength, UVA and UVB). Ultraviolet is an invisible part of the sun's light that doctors believe ages the skin and is linked to skin cancer. Dermatologists recommend that you look for sunscreen labeled as "broad spectrum" protection from UVA and UVB. Some more things doctors want you to know about saving your skin:
- Understand the meaning of that SPF (Skin Protection Factor) number on your sunscreen. It means that the product multiplies the time your skin can be exposed to sunlight without burning. So if you burn after 10 minutes in the sun, using sunscreen with an SPF of 30 will give you 300 minutes of fun in the sun. (Careful—that’s only 5 hours!)
- The American Dermatology Association recommends using a broad spectrum sunscreen, with an SPF of at least 15, on all exposed skin. Add new sunscreen every two hours.
- Some sunscreens work by providing chemicals that absorb the sun's radiation before it reaches your skin. Others include ingredients such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, which reflect radiation so it never reaches your skin, thus providing broad spectrum protection.
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