The holiday season has arrived so now is the time to start thinking about your skin and how to protect it against the suns rays and skin cancer.
Start off by understanding your skin, what it does and why it is so important to you.
Your skin is your protection and should be looked after carefully, it protects you against light, heat, injury and infection. It helps to control your body temperature and stores water and fat, it also makes vitamin D.
Your skin is made up of two layers; the top layer is called the epidermis, this is mostly made up of flat cells, these are called squamous cells. Underneath the squamous cells in the deepest part of the epidermis are round cells, these are called basal cells. Located in the lower part of the epidermis are cells called melanocytes, these are what produces the color or pigment of your skin.
The bottom layer of your skin is called the dermis, this contains the blood vessels, lymph vessels and glands. It is the glands that produce the sweat which helps to keep your body cool.
Other glands in the dermis produces sebum, this is am oily substance that helps to keep your skin from drying out, the sweat and sebum reach the surface of the skin through the pores, the tiny openings that exist all over your skin.
Most of know that the sun that we all crave is one of the greatest dangers to the risk of getting skin cancer. UV rays can start damaging the skin at an early age if the child is not protected correctly.
Risk factors that increase the chances of skin cancer are Ultra Violet Radiation these come from the sun, Sun lamps, tanning beds, or tanning booths.
The skin is damaged by the sun starting at an early age and skin cancer usually occurs after the age of fifty. It is not contagious so you cannot catch it from another person.
Everyone is affected by UV radiation but people with fair skin that freckles or red or blonde hair and freckles are at greater risk.
Even people who tan easily are at risk of skin cancer.
Skin cancer begins in the cells, normally the cells grow and divide to form new cells, each day the cells die and new cells replace them.
This process changes when new cells form which are not needed and the old cells remain alive instead of dying, these excess cells form into a mass called a growth or tumor.
This may not necessarily be skin cancer as the growth or tumor may be benign, this means it is not life threatening. Usually benign growths can be removed without growing back.
Malignant growths are more serious than benign growths, they can be life threatening, although the two most common types of skin cancer only cause about one death in a thousand.
Malignant growths can be removed but they sometimes grow back, they can also spread to other parts of the body,the spread of cancer is called metastasis.
Skin cancers are named after the type of cells that are attacked, the two most common are basal cell cancer and squamous cell cancer, they usually form on the head, face, hands, neck and arms.these are the areas that are most exposed to the sun but skin cancer can occur anywhere.
Basal cell skin cancer grows slowly usually on areas of the skin that has been exposed more to the sun, it mostly affects the face and rarely spreads to other parts of the body.
Squamous cell skin cancer also occurs on parts of the skin that has been exposed to the sun but it may also appear on parts of the body that not been exposed. Squamous cancer can sometimes spread to the lymphnodes and organs on the inside of the body.
To prevent skin cancer you must protect yourselves and your children from the sun, you should also protect yourself from UV radiation reflected by sand, water, snow and ice. UV radiation can penetrate through light clothing, windshields, windows and clouds.
Protect yourself by wearing long sleeves and long pants of tightly woven fabrics, a hat with a wide brim, and sunglasses that absorb UV.
Always use sunscreen lotions, sunscreens may help to prevent skin cancer, use a sun protection factor of at least 15 and give the sunlamps and tanning booths a miss.
Suspect Skin Cancer, Do Not Take Risks
Skin cancer is unsightly if it is neglected and left to grow, it is very important to see your physician at the first sign of any unusual change in a mole or a strange growth. Melanoma is the most serious but it can be treated successfully if it is caught and treated early.
You must never neglect any signs as Melanoma can spread to other parts of the body, when this happens it becomes hard to treat and can prove fatal. Melanomas are nearly always black or brown but sometimes they stop producing pigment and then become pink, skin colored, red or purple in color.
We are all at risk for melanoma this depends on several factors, it could be genetic if there is a history of it in your family, or it could be from repeated exposure to the sun of which many warnings are given every year, always make sure your child is well protected as the early years as exposure from a young age increases the risk.
It could be your skin type or the amount of moles on your skin, the more you have the greater the risk of contracting melanoma.
If you see any sign of change in a mole you must contact your doctor, if left it will grow larger and if it is the invasive type which is the most serious it will travel on the surface of the skin and then penetrate deeper by then it may have spread to other parts of your body.
The first signs of melanoma appear as a flat or raised patch, it is discolored and has ragged edges, it can be brown, black, red, white or blue, it can even be a mole that has changed.
It is most likely to occur on the body in men, the legs on women and the upper body on both men and women.
You can find more information on this on the skin cancer websites so check them first then see your doctor as soon as possible if you have any suspicions at all.
Unusual Spots to Detect Melanoma Cancer
To detect Melanoma Cancer in time is very important as well as difficult. The symptoms are very confusing and therefore this type of cancer is often left undetected and as a result is likely to have very dangerous consequences.
The symptoms show at very unusual places and that is the reason too much attention is not given to them. Delay in detecting symptoms of Melanoma Cancer results in working out a treatment course for the patient.
Melanoma Cancer is not just about exposure of skin to harsh rays of sun.
It’s a lot more than that. Doctors generally advice people to learn to self examine to detect this form of cancer. Symptoms generally show under nails, on the palms and soles of hands and feet respectively and in the scalp.
Appearance of brown or black streak in the nail of the thumb or big toe is sign of Melanoma Cancer.
This spot, which is actually a sign of cancer, is often mistaken for a bruise or scar caused by some injury to the nail. But the opposite is also as much true that pigmented band within the nail plate is not always necessarily a sing of cancer.
If this band does not disappear with time or goes on increasing, under such a situation it’s best to see a dermatologist and get the biopsy done.
Similarly scalp is also a place where symptoms are generally not detected easily as it is covered by hair.
A mole in the scalp with has ragged, notched or blurred border with one half of it being different from the other half. One should self examine scalp with the help of hair dryer by parting hair and looking for lesions. If the patient notices bleeding moles in the scalp which have developed recently.
Other areas where symptoms can show are the eyes, the palms of the hands or the soles of the feet, or the mucosal tissue that forms lining the nose, mouth, genital organs, anus, urinary tract and esophagus.
These are not the places people generally expect any such dangerous symptoms to show and that is the reason why detecting Melanoma Cancer in time is not very common. And the result is cancer detected at an advanced stage is that much more complicated to treat.
