Melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer. The National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 76,000 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States in 2016.
With temperatures expected to climb on the first unofficial weekend of the summer, a Rowan Medicine physician says it’s time to remember that it only takes a couple minutes to protect yourself from the disfiguring and deadly disease.
“Everybody – and I mean ‘every body’ – needs sunscreen,” said Dr. Jennifer Caudle a Rowan University Family Medicine physician. “Your ethnicity doesn’t matter; how easily you tan doesn’t matter. If you go out in the sun without sunscreen you are putting yourself at risk for melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer.”
Dr. Caudle reminds her patients that there is no such thing as a ‘healthy tan’, and while melanoma rates tend to be highest among older men, there has been an alarming increase in recent years among young adults, particularly among young women. “There are two possible factors involved here,” Dr. Caudle explains.
“Skin cancer can take years to appear, and decades ago sunscreens simply weren’t available. In the case of some, there’s a strong suspicion that the use of tanning beds to get a ‘base tan’ before beach or prom season has exposed many teens to unsafe levels of ultraviolet light.” Read More
