Important Information About Sun Safety and Skin Cancer
Listen to Amy Albrecht, PA on our podcast Memorial Health Radio in the new episode titled Sun Safety.
Transcription
Melanie Cole: According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. In fact, more skin cancers are diagnosed in the US each year than all other cancers combined, but the good news is you can do a lot to protect yourself and your family from skin cancer. My guest today is Amy Albrecht. He’s a physician’s assistant at Strucker Cancer Center of Memorial Health System. Welcome to the show. Tell us a little bit about the sun and how damaging it can be to our skin.
Amy Albrecht, PA: The sun is ultraviolet radiation and so it damages our skin. The way we can protect it is by using sunscreen. Large amounts of radiation change our DNA and can cause damage.
Melanie: Tell us a little bit about sunscreen. There’s so many of them on the market. What are we supposed to be looking for?
Amy: You want to find a sunscreen that is at least SPF 30 and the most important thing for sunscreen is to reapply. A lot of people will put it on and they say the sunscreen is on but got sunburnt. The most important thing is that you’re reapplying it usually every 45 minutes to an hour and that’s especially if you are swimming or sweating, you’re toweling off. Those are the times to definitely reapply.
Melanie: What about little infants? Can we put sunscreen on them? What should we be doing to protect them from the sun?
Amy: The most important thing to keep those small infants safe would be to keep them out of the sun. Have an umbrella, keep them in the shade. Some of the sunscreens aren’t safe to use on small babies. They really need to check with the pediatrician there, but definitely just keep them in the shade and out of the sun.
Melanie: If we’re checking our skin for skin cancer, what are we looking for?
Amy: You are looking for something we call the ABCDE of skin cancer. You’re checking for asymmetry. If you have a mole and it looks a little suspicious to you, you want to see if the mole looks like the same. B is border. Is the border irregular? Is it nice and smooth? C is color. Is it uniform in color? One shade of brown or darker brown or is one spot darker and the other spots are lighter? We look at the color in general. D is diameter. We get more concerned if the mole is larger than a pencil eraser. That’s a good thing to remember. E is evolution. Has this always looked like this? “I’ve had this mole for years and it looks the same” or “is this changing?” Is it getting larger? Does the color look different? Those are things to check when you do a monthly skin exam, and if you’re ever concerned, always see your doctor?
Melanie: That’s absolutely great advice. You work in a cancer center, so you see certain types of skin cancer. What do you see is the most damaging kind?
Amy: Melanoma is the worst kind, but they’re all very serious. It’s definitely important to keep an eye on your skin and to pay attention. You want to make sure that you’re watching for those changes and if something new pops up and it’s concerning that you get it checked out because skin cancer can be deadly, but a lot of times, all we have to do is remove it. We don’t need any further treatment, but it’s really important just to take that first step and pay attention.
Melanie: How do we know if we’re being protected from the sun? If we were using our sunscreen and maybe we wear a hat and sunglasses, is there any way to tell?
Amy: Just keep an eye on your skin. It’s always exposed, so we need to be in the shade, wear a hat, wear protective clothing or the sunscreen. The worse time to be out is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. That’s when the sun is right overhead. That’s the best time to stay inside.
Melanie: Wrap it up for us with your best advice about sun safety and skin cancer and why it’s so important that we use sunscreen and protect ourselves and our loved ones from the damaging rays of the sun.
Amy: Make sure you get a good sunscreen. The most important sunscreen is one you’re going to use, so don’t get one that you don’t like the way it feels or smells. They have so many different brands and types and they have dried sunscreen or ones that are a little more moisturizing. There are a lot of different options, look for ones that are at least SPF 30, really 50 if you can, make sure you’re reapplying, try to stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. That’s when it’s the worst time of the day. Get yourself a nice wide brim hat, seek shade when you can, keep your loved ones covered up or covered in sunscreen or in the shade.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us. You’re listening to Memorial Health Radio with Memorial Health System. For more information, please visit mhsystem.org. That’s mhsystem.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
