Hope you had a wonderful summer — took some time off and even got in a vacation!
I spent two weeks in the Canadian Rockies trekking at high altitude — a sure way to get over-exposure to UVA (ultraviolet A) — now considered to be the most dangerous light for our skin.
So I made sure to cover up with a broad spectrum sunscreen … one effectively blocking UVA as well as UVB.
You see, “SPF” refers only to UVB light … present in the summer between 10 AM and 2 PM and the one associated with sunburn — especially in lighter skinned individuals (like me … a true Canadian celt).
But what we associate with signs of aging … and what causes skin cancer … is UVA light — present year-round, penetrating clouds and car window glass. Now you know why most skin cancers of the head and neck appear on the left side (driving!)
Now, we remove between 5 and 7 basal cell carcinomas and/or squamous cell carcinomas daily in our office. These are usually considered eradicated at the time of removal.
The scary one is malignant melanoma. I was told in Medical School that malignant melanoma is the cancer that gave cancer a bad name! It’s a real killer, left undiagnosed and untreated — or if caught too late.
It gets worse …
We now see malignant melanoma at the rate of 3 or 4 NEW cases per week in our office and none are in the Boomer population.
All in the young … especially women from 30 through their 40’s.
And in children.
The bad news? They don’t look like melanomas you see in pamphlets.
They look like normal moles or freckles.
How do we find them? History of change — any change — or a new arrival. Now I don’t know about you — but I have absolutely no curiosity what these changing, normal looking pigmented spots are up to — so I take them off on the spot. And a large proportion are early melanomas.
The good news (come on — there has to be good news in all of this) is these are in their early stages, treatable by appropriate surgical intervention to the point of cure (well as “cure” as cure can be … our followup is 20 years).
So make a regular habit of scanning your own moles and put denial aside when you even think one is changing … or there’s a “new kid on the block” … one you’ve not noticed before. Ladies — my recommendation is you do this at the time of your monthly breast exam. Guys — just suck it up and do it monthly.
And check your kids too!
I have no clue why we’re seeing this epidemic — especially when you’re so careful about the sun.
You don’t want to die from a brown spot on your skin.
We’re here to help and are glad to schedule a skin exam looking for these little devils. Just call 215-361-5030 — and we take insurance for this.
Be careful out there!
I’m just sayin’ …
James C. Fairfield, MD FAAD
