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Education
Your Questions Answered: Skin Cancer
06.10.2010
At our recent skin cancer screening, we asked people for their skin cancer questions. Stanford physician Susan Swetter, internationally known skin cancer researcher and clinician, answers those questions. You might be surprised at some of those answers - and better prepared for summer.
0:02 and dermatologists we would never discourage anyone from coming in for a
0:06 skin cancer screening
0:08 however there are population increase risk particularly those individuals with
0:12 fair skin types
0:13 and a lot of fun sensitivity individuals who are sensitive to the Sun
0:18 tend to get more skin cancers including and non-melanoma skin cancer types basal
0:23 cell and squamous cell skin cancer
0:24 as well as melanoma which is the deadliest form of skin cancer
0:28 we also look for other risk factors such a strong family history of skin cancer
0:32 the melanoma types and non-melanoma types lots and malls on the skin
0:36 including what we call clinical atypical moles or dysplastic
0:39 malls any individual with a changing or suspicious skin lesions
0:43 should certainly have it checked out moles can occur anywhere on the body
0:47 they're also conlan acidic me
0:49 by when you're looking for melanoma you're looking for
0:52 a typical mall although in reality most nah numbers don't arise for pre-existing
0:57 more that come out as a melanoma on their on however it's important to
1:01 recognize clinical warning signs for melanoma
1:04 and these include me ABCDE criteria which were devised by the American
1:09 Academy of Dermatology over twenty years ago
1:12 yes for asymmetry 11 have a lesion doesn't match the other
1:16 he is border regularity see is color change with an elision where variable
1:20 shades of color may be evident brown
1:23 black white blue or even kinda pink or red color
1:26 D is for diameter any growing more particularly that larger than a pencil
1:31 eraser should be evaluated to make sure it's not
1:34 undergoing linen change very importantly
1:37 he has been added for evolving where the lesion is changing differently or looks
1:41 different from the rest
1:42 the person's lesions on the skin this can be very helpful for certain subtypes
1:47 don't fulfill the other abcd criteria
1:50 particularly at typeof na na na call nodular melanoma
1:53 which tends to grow up on the skin it elevates also rates and bleed more
1:58 commonly
1:58 and other melanoma sometimes squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma
2:03 are actually in the most common skin cancers we see worldwide
2:07 in fact in the US team now been estimated to occur and over 3.5 million
2:12 individuals per year
2:13 is also carcinoma is the most common probably about three million cases
2:17 itself
2:18 and tends to be a less harmful skin cancer
2:21 doesn't invade the skin as deeply as other skin cancers although it can be
2:25 very
2:25 locally destructive disfiguring squamous cell skin cancer can the past two size
2:31 meaning spread to other parts of the body
2:33 and about 2,000 deaths in the US per year are due to squamous cell skin
2:37 cancer that has spread to other parts of the body
2:40 both forms a skin cancer are important to recognize earlier
2:43 for optimal treatment cosmetic result a surgery or other modalities
2:47 examination in the back is very important for melanoma particularly
2:52 in middle-aged and older men when whom we see the highest rates of melanoma
2:56 incidence that's new cases
2:58 as well as the highest rates and mortality that's deaths from disease
3:01 estimated that an individual receives about 25
3:06 eighty percent and his or her lifetime sun exposure in childhood or adolescence
3:10 we do recommend a lifelong sun protection now is some skin cancers tend
3:15 to be
3:15 related to chronic accumulative sun damage over time
3:19 excessive sun exposure and childhood and adolescence can increase the number of
3:23 moles that one develops an adult
3:25 and that's an independent risk factor for melanoma sunburns and child can also
3:30 increase the risk of developing melanoma is one ages
3:33 it's very important to know that there is no safety and whether this is through
3:37 natural sunlight
3:38 or artificial light vs some Sundancer tanning salons
3:42 his former artificial light is considered a carcinogen by the Food and
3:47 Drug Administration and
3:49 the amount ultraviolet radiation that an individual receives
3:52 in and tanning bed is 15 times stronger than that image
3:56 emitted by natural light so we do not consider that a safe tanning mechanism
4:01 is estimated that a fair skinned individuals practice
4:04 diligence sun protection from childhood on we could prevent up to 75 percent
4:09 skin cancers over a lifetime so that's a very strong reason to not get
4:14 too much Tanzer burns as a child or adolescent