Filed under: Skin Cancer , Prevention , Thought for the Day It's May. Summer is upon us. So is the hot sun. What a perfect time for an awareness month. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. So now is the time to learn a thing or two about a disease that is largely preventable, extremely deadly, and almost 100 percent curable when caught early. Think about this: Someone dies of melanoma -- the deadliest form of skin cancer -- every 65 minutes. Women ages 20-29 are most at risk, with melanoma ranking as the second most common cancer in this age group. But anyone, regardless of skin color or age, can develop skin cancer. More than one million Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year -- shocking considering the cause of the disease is no secret: skin cancer is caused mostly by too much sun exposure. OK, how about some good news? In recognition of this awareness month, Olay and the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) have partnered for the third year and are offering a nationwide free skin cancer screening program. Desperate Housewives star Marcia Cross -- who's had two family members stricken by melanoma -- is the face of this campaign, intended to raise awareness about the importance of prevention and detection. Cross, Olay, and ASDS say regular screenings and daily protection from the sun's dangerous UV rays are the best defenses against skin cancer. And so during May, June, and July, this team is making sure your screening is free. Visit http://www.skincancertakesfriends.org/ to locate a dermatologist offering complimentary screenings. Once you get an appointment, take a friend. It's free for both of you. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Skin Cancer , Melanoma , Prevention , Research , Daily news , Thought for the Day I remember a time when I visited tanning salons and was assured by those working the front desks that tanning beds were safer than the sun. Many years later, I know this is entirely untrue. Think about this: The New Zealand Cancer Society experts say sunbeds should never be used as a tanning method because the risk of skin cancer is too great. Tanning bed UV radiation is five times stronger than UV from the sun, says one doctor who also suggests people wrongly assume sunbeds are safer than the sun. Instead, they place individuals at significant risk for harm. In fact, the risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest from of skin cancer, increases by 75 percent for those who use a tanning bed before the age of 35. The Cancer Society, wishing to ban the use of sunbeds for anyone under age 18, has commissioned further research into the use of this deadly practice. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Chemotherapy , Cancer Survivors It feels like summer here in Florida. Our temps topped 86 degrees last week and this kind of heat prompts my little boys to request their favorite summertime activity: swimming. My kids don't quite understand that the temperature outside is not the same as the temperature of unheated water. And so as soon as warm weather arrives, they dash for their suits and insist we make a trip to the neighborhood pool. I oblige, convinced they'll want to head home once they submerge their piggy toes in pure ice. But somehow, the temperature doesn't register. They plunge right in, dunk their heads and kick and flop and float. They are happy as clams, quivering lips and all. I am happy too as I watch their joyous moments from the privacy of my lounge chair, tucked away in the shade that borders my kids' perfect playland. Thanks to chemo, I am the mommy who hides in the shadows during any sunny event. It's been two whole years since my last dose of toxic drugs, but something about the sun and the heat and the residual effects of my infused poison causes my skin to produce red, itchy, unsightly bumps. It happened last year and already this year and I'm wondering now if this will be a life-long nuisance, if I will be seeking shade for the rest of my years. It's all OK really. Secluding myself from the sun's rays is a pretty healthy venture. And I'm not a real pool enthusiast. Any my boys are old enough to swim independently. And it's peaceful in the shade. So I'm not bitter about this unexpected side effect of chemo -- it's called UV recall -- and I'm not complaining. I'm merely marveling at the power of the drugs that hopefully killed all the cancer in my body, the drugs that seem to creep back year after year, perhaps reminding me that in the whole scheme of things, red, itchy, unsightly bumps are not such a bad life condition. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prevention , All Cancers , Vitamins and nutrients Between pale is the new tan and cultural or religious beliefs that require young girls to wear clothing that covers all skin areas and young girls who are restricted from outdoor activities, adolescent girls are paying the price in insufficient levels of vitamin D needed for peak bone mass -- increasing the risk of osteoporosis fracture later in life. By shunning the sun they might be decreasing the risks for skin cancer, but they are increasing the risks for 16 other cancers . Of the 51 healthy girls tested, Saint Mary's Hospital for Women and Children in Manchester researchers found 73 percent were vitamin D deficient, and 17 percent were severely deficient in vitamin D. Lack of a sufficient level of vitamin D was in direct correlation to the lack of exposure to sun and not to dietary intake. "This is in keeping with the fact that the main source of vitamin D is that produced by the action of solar ultraviolet B radiation acting on 7-dehydrocholesterol in skin," the team explains. "Only small amounts are obtained from dietary sources." Aside from encouraging more outdoor activity for these young girls, the researchers stated that it remains to be determined how to meet the needs of older children and adolescents from cultures that avoid sunlight. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prevention , All Cancers When it comes to reducing sun exposure cancer risks, the information all gets a little confusing and seemingly contradictory in nature. We are told repeatedly to stay out of the sun, as this is the single greatest risk to the development of skin cancer. Campaigns are launched all summer long about the benefit of shade, of avoiding the sun, and the media makes headlines out of it in an attempt to raise awareness. So if we are all doing what we are supposed to in reducing skin cancer risks by avoiding the sun, what do we make of the new study supporting University of California research that solar ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation reduces the risk of 16 types of cancer? UVB rays are what promotes the body's manufacture of the essential vitamin D that acts as a prevention to cancer risk. According to study authors Cedric Garland and William Grant, "Enhancing vitamin D status appears to be the single most important simple thing people can do to reduce their risk of cancer, apart from avoiding tobacco and moderation in the intake of alcohol." It might be a matter of practical common sense that moderation is the key. In the summer, researchers estimate it only takes 20 minutes of skin exposure to the sun to achieve the optimum levels of vitamin D derived from UVB rays. For darker skin, it can require over an hour to reach the same benefit. After that amount of time, it has no additional benefit. In addition, vitamin D supplements can supply a person's daily need for vitamin D. So shade, sunscreen and covering up are still the best bets in skin cancer prevention. However, without sun exposure, the body is at risk for low levels of vitamin D, and the lack of vitamin D is linked to an increase in 16 different cancers. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Skin Cancer , Prevention , Products , Daily news The bikini turns 60 this month and makes news not just for its birthday but also for its new feature -- a built-in alarm to warn wearers to get out of the sun. Not all bikinis will talk -- but those made by Canadian company Solestrom will. Solestrom has created a new bikini that goes on sale next month with a UV meter built into its belt and an alarm that sounds when it's time to seek shade. The meter on the $190 bikini displays a level of UV intensity on a scale from 0 to 20. Three to five is moderate strength, eight to 10 is very high, and anything above 11 is extreme. A person's sensitivity to UV depends mainly on skin type so this scale operates in general terms. Despite increasing awareness of the sun's dangers, sales remain strong for the bikini. So Solestrom developed this suit to ease some of the worries about the sun's damaging rays. They have already been met with high demand from Australia and South Africa -- where skin cancer rates are highest. The United States -- now in the loop too -- has about 1 million new skin cancer cases each year. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Skin Cancer , Environment I confess. I was once a sun worshiper. I grew up in Ohio where a really sunny day was rare -- so on the occasion when the sun was bright and hot, I was in my back yard or at a swimming pool or at a lake soaking up the warmth and comfort of the rays that mostly burned my skin but gave me a glow that eventually turned the slightest shade of tan and made me feel healthy. It's ironic really -- that I felt healthy when the act of sunbathing is so completely damaging. And I knew this at the time and for the many years that followed -- and I still basked in the sun and vacationed in Florida and sometimes actually drove in the direction of the sun on a overcast day, in search of a tan that was never fully achieved because my skin is pale and fair and was never meant for any amount of sun exposure. My grandma worried about me for a long time. She cautioned me and warned me because she had been cut and frozen and bandaged on many occasions for skin cancer -- after years of working on a farm and then in a garden -- and she feared that I would follow a similar path. She spoke from experience. And I didn't listen. I kept after the sun and visited tanning beds too and only stopped my endless search for the sun after having a baby and then another baby -- and only then because I didn't have time to spend in the sun anymore. Having children saved me -- or maybe not. The damage to my skin probably occurred long ago, well before children arrived. And I may be just waiting for the inevitable -- skin cancer -- to  smack me in the face for my crazy behavior. I can't go back and change what I did in my younger years. But I can make wise choices now. The worst burn I've suffered in the recent past has come from the rays of radiation for breast cancer. And I have no desire or plan for further damaging my skin. I am now the mom at the neighborhood swimming pool who sits on the lounge chair in the shade. I go to a dermatologist every year for a skin cancer screening, and I schedule an appointment for any bump, lump, or spot that worries me. I am happy with my skin tone and color and don't dream about a tan or wish for a healthy glow. Instead I panic about my two blond little boys with pale skin, and I slather them from head to toe with sunscreen whenever we head outdoors in our sunny state of Florida -- because I see for them a future like my grandma saw for me. And if I can educate them now about how harmful the sun's rays can be, perhaps I can save them from ever looking back with regret -- from ever wondering why so much time was spent in reckless pursuit of something so temporary, so unimportant, so unhealthy. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Breast Cancer , Books Some people detail their journeys with cancer through journaling -- like me -- and some use other mediums to express their emotions about this life-threatening disease. Marilyn Whitney uses watercolors to sum up her experiences. As she underwent all sorts of procedures for breast cancer, two thoughts kept crossing her mind. One thought was the tendency to flee and the other was that there must be some way to help others by describing her procedures. So after each hospital session, Marilyn would go home and craft a watercolor of what she had just seen and experienced. Then she would add a poem so the viewer would fully understand the message she was trying to convey. Prints and poems became Marilyn's method for comforting both herself and other women traveling similar roads -- and these prints and poems, all created in 1997, became pages of a book. This book -- The Tendency to Flee -- was published by the University of Florida's Center for Research on Women's Health and is full of colorful paintings and humorous words. In one watercolor, Marilyn depicts a radiation technician marking her body in preparation for the rays that would zap her. Next to the painting is a poem entitled, What's My Line. WHAT'S MY LINE - GETTING READY FOR RADIATION - A soft touch -- the PEN swings free MARKING LINES ALL OVER ME A CROSS HERE, A CIRCLE THERE PURPLE INK EVERYWHERE Then PERMANENT TATTOOS so we know WHERE TO GO -- Thank goodness MY BREAST is covered SO NO ONE WILL KNOW -- They tell ME these LINES are the KEY So the TECHS CAN AIM RADIATION at ME -- So HERE IS MY TECH and HERE IS ME -- WITH THE TENDENCY TO FLEE! Other paintings and poems capture the emotions wrapped up in mammograms and surgery and celebrating the end of treatment. Marilyn's goal is to reach others, to help others, to bring a smile to someone's face. She has succeeded. I am smiling. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Skin Cancer (Non-melanoma) , Melanoma , Prevention If you don't think staying out in the sun for long periods of time puts you at greater risk for skin cancer -- or that a wide-brimmed hat and sunscreen are all you need to be safe from the damaging rays of the sun -- you might be interested in what MoleMap, a melanoma surveillance program in Australia, discovered during a study of New Zealand farmers and skin cancer rates . I was surprised -- and not in a good way -- by the results of the study. According to the study, these farmers take sun safety very seriously and observe most of the advised sun safety practices of wearing wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, protective clothing and sunscreen. Yet, with all those preventive measures, half of the New Zealand farmers, or close family members, have been diagnosed with skin cancer. The unavoidable truth is that the work they do requires them to be out in the sun for as long as eight hours a day. MoleMap general manager Gavin Foulsham is quoted as saying, "We are getting absolutely hammered with ultraviolet rays from the hole in the ozone layer, and our skies are very clean, so we don't get the protective benefits of pollution either, which ironically caused the hole in the first place." The farmers are being asked to pay close attention to any changes to the skin that could indicate skin cancer and to get it checked right away. For all of us who are not required to work outdoors, this is a cautionary tale of why it is essential to take sun safety seriously and to stay out of the sun for long periods of time. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Skin Cancer (Non-melanoma) , Melanoma , Prevention If you don't think staying out in the sun for long periods of time puts you at greater risk for skin cancer -- or that a wide-brimmed hat and sunscreen are all you need to be safe from the damaging rays of the sun -- you might be interested in what MoleMap, a melanoma surveillance program in Australia, discovered during a study of New Zealand farmers and skin cancer rates . I was surprised -- and not in a good way -- by the results of the study. According to the study, these farmers take sun safety very seriously and observe most of the advised sun safety practices of wearing wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, protective clothing and sunscreen. Yet, with all those preventive measures, half of the New Zealand farmers, or close family members, have been diagnosed with skin cancer. The unavoidable truth is that the work they do requires them to be out in the sun for as long as eight hours a day. MoleMap general manager Gavin Foulsham is quoted as saying, "We are getting absolutely hammered with ultraviolet rays from the hole in the ozone layer, and our skies are very clean, so we don't get the protective benefits of pollution either, which ironically caused the hole in the first place." The farmers are being asked to pay close attention to any changes to the skin that could indicate skin cancer and to get it checked right away. For all of us who are not required to work outdoors, this is a cautionary tale of why it is essential to take sun safety seriously and to stay out of the sun for long periods of time. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments