While the diagnosis of “cancer” is frightening no matter what the particulars, skin cancer is a condition that you should take seriously even though it is most often benign. It is the most prevalent cancer in the US, and is often caused by too much exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun or to other sources of UV rays, such as tanning beds or lamps.
Watch Out For The Rays
For many people exposed to too much sun, the results can be wrinkles, early aging, dark patches on the skin, cataracts and other eye problems, or precancerous patches of dry scaly skin called actinic keratosis. The sun can even suppress the skin’s immune system. Just a bad sunburn every two years can triple your risk of getting melanoma skin cancer.
There are three types of UV rays that can do varying amounts of damage:
- UVA rays can produce long-term skin damage by aging skin cells and damaging their DNA. They are linked to some skin cancers, especially among people who use tanning beds, which produce large amounts of UVA.
- UVB rays, full of more energy than UVA rays, cause most sunburns and most skin cancers.
- UVC rays have more energy than the others, but do not usually cause skin cancer because they don’t get to the atmosphere.
Anytime you get sunburned from too much UV radiation, you damage cells, and if DNA damage builds up over time, you can develop skin cancer, which develops in the way all cancers do – through abnormal cell growth.
How Skin Cancers Develop
Cancers develop when cells do not divide in the normal way, but rather grow out of control and keep making new cells that crowd out cells that are behaving normally. As they continue their growth, they form a tumor or mass that is potentially malignant, which means they can invade nearby tissues as they continue to grow by sucking up nutrients and oxygen that other cells need to survive. They can even spread to other parts of the body through the blood stream.
The top layer of the skin contains three types of cells: squamous, basal, and melanocytes.
- About 20% of cancers develop in the squamous or top layer, often starting as ascetic keratosis.
- More than 75% develop in the basal cells in the lower part of the epidermis; if left untreated, the cancer can invade other cells.
- The majority of cancers develop from melanocyte cells, which produce pigment, are evidenced by moles, which are benign noncancerous growths – all except a small, but significant, percentage of cases.
A small percentage of skin cancers develop from other factors not related to the sun.
High Risk Factors For Skin Cancer
Even though most types of lesions on the skin prove not to be cancerous, you should go to your doctor to check it out if you notice a little lump or a change in a mole. If you are fair skinned, freckled, and have light eyes and blonde or red hair, your risk of the lesion being cancerous is greater. Other risk factors include family history, a previous history of skin cancer, living in a sunny climate, or having an outside job.
In addition, if you have a history of severe sunburns and numerous large, irregularly shaped moles, you are at increased risk.
Sun Prevention Tips
Preventing skin cancer requires that you protect yourself from the sun. While you will necessarily be exposed to the sun in the course of your daily life, especially if you enjoy being outdoors, you need to take special steps to limit your risk:
- Wear sunglasses with UV protection.
- Apply sunscreen with a sun protective factor (SPF) of 30 or greater, 30 minutes before you go out in the sun and then every two or three hours afterwards. If you get wet or perspire heavily, immediately reapply sunscreen.
- Wear cosmetic products and contact lenses that offer UV protection.
- Avoid direct sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM, the peak UV radiation hours.
- Frequently examine your skin to notice changes or new growths.
- Treat dry skin with a humidifier, lotion, and bathing with moisturizing body washes.
Taking all the steps yourself is important, but you should also foster good habits about being in the sun with your kids. Before the age of 18, people acquire 80% of their lifetime sun exposure.
If you notice dangerous changes in moles or new growths in your skin, it’s time to make an appointment with your primary care provider at Raintree Medical and Chiropractic Center. For information 816-623-3020.