Skin Cancer

GuanYin

Just looking at the figures of skin cancer for last year and they are pretty shocking.

Overall non-melanoma skin cancer accounted for approx 40% of all cancer diagnosed and approx 4% were diagnosed with melanoma of the skin.

Whats shocking about this is that skin cncer is the one form of cancer that we can actually pinpoint the exact cause every time: Overexposure to ultra violet (UV) rays of the sun.

This year was the hottest that I remember, with the most sun exposure. I really dread to think what the skin cancer prevalence will be for 2003. I would most certainly think it will be an increase.

This is probably the first year there has been a decent visible skin cancer awareness campaign, but I dunno if it will work. The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) published a study showing that although most younger people (the group most at risk) recognise the danger of overexposure to the sun, they are still not protecting themselves when outdoors (34% of those under 25 admitted to applying sunscreen in 2003).

There were 151 deaths from just over 100,000 diagnosed cases of both types of skin cancer (this is nearly 2% of the yearly cancer mortality rate). Considering the majority of the population is fair, why aren't we using sunscreen dammit!

Sarky

Because most of us are idiots?

It's probably sociological. We have a terrible habit of thinking "Ah sure I'll get away with it this time" or "Oh I'll be alright" or something similar.

Result? We get fried.

IrishPug106GTi

Skyeirl:
Firstly I would like to thank you for raising awareness of this issue. I was diagnosed with a fairly rare form of Skin Cancer just 3 years ago. I had a severe case of amelanotic malignant melanoma and ended up being out sick from work for 4 months. At one point it was touch and go as to whether it had spread into my lymph nodes or lungs. I was only 23 at the time and have had a serious reconsideration of what exactly is important in life.
I still see a specialist every three months and have a full head, neck and thorax scan every six months.
Thankfully my employer at the time provided Private health insurance and as such I was able to avail of some of the best oncologists and reconstuctive surgeons in Ireland. I only lost a large portion of my left ear but the experience both humbled me and made me a much stronger person.
To finish up, this was the result of a bad case of sunburn I received on holidays in Lanzarote four years ago. Folks, be vigilant, if it is hot outside, wear suncream. I have to wear factor 60 on a mild day from now on.
Rant Over..!!

sunbeam

Wow-sorry to hear that IrishPug. Good health wishes etc. to you.

I have very pale photosensitive skin and burned a lot as a child but have tried to either stay out of the sun or wear sun cream since my teens. I went through a stupid phase of covering up but trying to sun-lighten my hair blonde but that's another story.

These days I wear a moisturiser with at least SPF15 every day and an SPF60 sunblock if I'm going to get any substantial sun (i.e. just go for a walk on a sunny day). I have to admit to being a fickle female here and the prospect of lines and wrinkles is probably more motivation than skin cancer-even though I have multiple moles and am quite vigilant about checking them. I know most of the damage is already done by age 30 but I can already see a substanitial difference between my skin and that of similarly aged sunloving relatives.

From my infrequent visits to various beauty forums it would seem that awareness of the risks of UV exposure is increasing and the choice of a daily moisturiser with at least some sunfilters is becoming the norm. I'm personally unconvinced about the level of protection they offer. Very few seem to list a rating for UVA protection at all, so I suspect it is minimal.

Is it true that UVA levels tend to remain fairly constant over the year? It seems that a lot of cosmetics companies are using this argument (despite the lack of UVA ratings mentioned above) to sell their products and I can't seem to find any unbiased information on this.

MeloPhoto

Hi
I recently set up a company in Galway and Limerick. What i do is use photography to detect melanoma over time. you can find out more information at www.melophoto.ie . if you have any questions regarding the service please email me at info@melophoto.ie . what we offer is the opportunity for you and your doctor to monitor your skin and mole changes over time. these mole changes often are the early signs of melanoma.

Schlemm

My Grandad had a skin cancer scare last year (althought he seems to be doing ok now).

It reminded me that skin cancer is such a deadly disease and is so easy to contract.

Wear a hat and cover up!

Tans may come and go but you're stuck with the one piece of skin you have for the rest of your life!

http://www.skincancer.org/ has some great information and pictures.

Don't forget to keep an eye on your skin and keep it healthy.

Zillah

Holy thread resurrection batman!

GuanYin

Haha - I hadn't noticed this.

As it happens, the figures did indeed go up.

I have to admit, being somewhat darker than my brother, I don't tend to use the family factor 60 supply, but I actually can't understand why anyone would risk it.

People who think 5 minutes 3 times a day is too much effort to use sun black, should go talk to people like the poster above .

As the song says, use sunscreen.

Guess_Who

Yeah gotta say this thread scared the hell outta me especially because I'm in Australia at the moment. Mad thing is that they highest factor sun cream they sell is 30, I e-mailed the Australian Cancer Council re: this because I'm fair skinned & they rekon that as long as you reapply it you don't need any higher.

Am planning on getting my moles checked when I get home later in the year. Haven't noticed any changes or anything but just to be on the safe side. Anyone know if I get this done with my GP or do I have to get a referral somewhere?

Thanks

MeloPhoto

To those on this thread living in Australia there is a company that offers the same service as we do operating there. the are called "skinsense imaging". they offer pretty much the same service and as far as i know use the same software as we do. if you want any information on melanoma visit the links on our site www.melophoto.ie

DrIndy

Guess_Who wrote:

Yeah gotta say this thread scared the hell outta me especially because I'm in Australia at the moment. Mad thing is that they highest factor sun cream they sell is 30, I e-mailed the Australian Cancer Council re: this because I'm fair skinned & they rekon that as long as you reapply it you don't need any higher.

Am planning on getting my moles checked when I get home later in the year. Haven't noticed any changes or anything but just to be on the safe side. Anyone know if I get this done with my GP or do I have to get a referral somewhere?

Thanks

Your GP can do it and refer you on, if there is a suspicious looking lesion (which does NOT mean it is automatically cancer!!) - your GP will refer you to a dermatologist/plastic surgeon who will give you a very quick appointment to be further reviewed with biopsies/removal under local anaesthetic.

GuanYin

Why not just go to a minor surgery clinic and have them remove it and send it for biopsy?

DrIndy

GP should always be your first port of call as they are the ones who keep an overall view of you and they need to know about something like that to ensure correct followup if needed. Bypassing your GP to get health care unless it requires going to A&E for something serious is a very bad idea.

scuby

Just wondering has the Mohs procedure become available here in ireland yet ? afaik for skin cancers, i know they do it for a few years in the U.S.

DrIndy

Mohs micrographic surgery is available here by a few select dermatologists who use it occasionally. There is one in St. James's who occasionally does it for lesions that are too big and in too sensitive a place for conventional plastic surgery.

It is the way forward and it minimises the amount of excess skin removed, but it very time consuming and requires a very high degree of expertise to do with success that limits it.

GuanYin

DrIndy wrote:

GP should always be your first port of call as they are the ones who keep an overall view of you and they need to know about something like that to ensure correct followup if needed. Bypassing your GP to get health care unless it requires going to A&E for something serious is a very bad idea.

Well to be fair, I meant through a GP - many of the medical centres run by GPs have minor surgery clinic hours these days.

MeloPhoto

I am not saying to not go to the doctors and just use my service. I am just saying that the service i offer should be used along side a doctor or dermatologist. We offer photographs as a record of the clients skin. This record can be updated at any time and the client or doctor can compare moles on a side by side viewer that we give with our images. This gives people the opportunity to take responsibility of the monitoring of their skin For those who look at our site please email me what you think of the site and what information would you like to see on the site. All input is greatly appreciated. www.melophoto.ie info@melophoto.ie.

MeloPhoto

just saw the dates on the thread. Sorry for posting replies to old posts. I have a special offer for the month of march if anybody wishes to take a look at the homepage of the website www.melophoto.ie

liver

My dermatologist says that threre is very little published evidence on this and as a technology it is yet to be proven

MeloPhoto wrote: »

Hi
I recently set up a company in Galway and Limerick. What i do is use photography to detect melanoma over time. you can find out more information at www.melophoto.ie . if you have any questions regarding the service please email me at info@melophoto.ie . what we offer is the opportunity for you and your doctor to monitor your skin and mole changes over time. these mole changes often are the early signs of melanoma.