Skin Cancer Prevention and Care Tips

Tip 1:

Skin cancer is common, but has a very high cure rate. Don't panic if you or someone you know has been diagnosed with skin cancer. Take the diagnosis seriously, but skin cancer is not a death sentence. Diagnosed early, all skin cancers have a cure rate of 97% or higher.

As can be seen above, the general truth about skin cancer is that, although it is a very common disease, it is also a cancer that can be cured in most cases, and the easiest to detect and treat.

Although cancer is a shocking word to hear, there is a lot of good news. Although skin cancer can be fatal, in most cases, it can be treated and cured. Furthering this, the most common type of skin cancer is Basal Cell Carcinoma, which rarely threatens life. The type that is most often fatal is called malignant melanoma, which is by far the least common type of cancer. The first thing that new patients should understand is that skin cancer is both very common, and that in the great majority of cases, it is completely curable; skin cancer overall has a good prognosis. Most skin cancers have a cure rate of 95% or higher at the time that they are diagnosed.

Tip 2:

The most important factor for developing skin cancer is overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Protect yourself and your children from the sun. Use sunscreen on a regular basis. Following this simple suggestion can really minimize your chance of developing skin cancer.

Accumulated sun damage caused by both UVA and UVB light are the main causes of skin damage that eventually leads to skin cancer. For this reason, the incidence of skin cancer is highest in regions that are hot and where the sun is out for the longest. Being sun educated is very important. Remember that sun damage is slow but deadly, and accumulates over the years. Educate yourself and your family about sun safety, and reduce the chance that you ever develop skin cancer, or develop other skin problems later in life. Remember that prevention is much easier than treatment.

Tip 3:

Know if you are in a high risk category. Risk factors include pale white skin that does not tan, organ transplant or other reason for a suppressed immune system, ill health, accumulated sun damage, family or personal history of skin cancer or actinic keratosis.

Several factors make you more vulnerable than the average population to developing skin cancer. Although level of sun exposure is one of the most important factors, it is not the only risk factor in developing skin cancer.

If one or more of the risk factors shown above apply to you, take extra take extra precautions, and check your body periodically, protect yourself from the sun, and periodically have your dermatologist examine your body.

Tip 4:

Do not ignore signs of skin cancer. Cancers are by definition malignant, and become worse over time. They will not heal on their own, and many of them, if left untreated, have the ability to spread to other parts of the body, where they become truly dangerous and harder to treat.

Although skin cancer has the highest cure rate, it still must be treated. The sooner you seek treatment, the better your prognosis. It is important that you do not delay treatment. Even though many of the common cancers rarely spread and become fatal, they will continue to grow larger, and disfigure the skin surrounding the cancer. It is important that cancer be treated seriously and promptly, regardless of the type of cancer.

Tip 5:

Check your body regularly, or have your partner check your body for any signs of skin cancer. A 10 minute check every month can potentially save your life. Understand that prognosis for dangerous skin cancers depend largely on how fast it is found. Remember that skin cancers have a cure rate of over 99% when found in its early stages.

Skin cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers. The trouble with many cancers is that the symptoms are often not felt until the cancer has progressed, and spread to other parts of the body, where it is difficult to treat. This is not the case with skin cancer, as it is easily visible, and easy to remove via excision.

Skin cancer is also highly visible. Once skin cancer advances, however, some cancers such as melanoma, can infiltrate deeper into the body, and spread to the lymph nodes, and later, the internal organs through a process called metastasis. Once this occurs, the skin cancer becomes much more difficult to treat. For this reason, it is very important to check your body on a regular basis for potential skin cancers. It takes very little time to check, and can save you or your partner's life. When identifying skin cancer, remember the ABCDE rule.