Now that we're headed for summer...

We should really begin talking about protecting ourselves from the sun. One in five Americans develops skin cancer in their lifetime. More than 90% of skin cancer is caused from not being protected from the sun. Skin protection should happen year round not just during the warm seasons of the year. Your risk of developing skin cancer doubles for every five times that you have gotten a sun burn.

So what is skin cancer?
There are three forms of skin cancer. Squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas are two forms of cancer that are slow growing and very easy for dermatologists to treat. The most common form of skin cancer is melanoma. Melanoma is very dangerous and fast growing. Skin most exposed to sunlight has the greastest chance of developing the cancer.

How do I look for skin cancer?
As we should always look to the experts to get a clear diagnosis of a disease, we can look for some symptoms of skin cancer. Usually melanoma shows up on the head, face, neck, arms and back. The surface of the skin can be raised and rough. Most of the sites appear to be brown or black in color. Some can be a lighter brown, however. They can start off by looking like a mole. They are usually not completely round in shape. They can grow and change shape as time goes on.

How do I get skin cancer?
Ultraviolet light is usually how people acquire skin cancer. Two of the most common places that we can attract UV light is from the sun and tanning beds. Not being protected from the sun is how we get it. Some forms of skin cancer can be hereditary.

What does it do?
The ultraviolet light damages the DNA that make up genes that form skin cells. When these cells get damaged, it is the wrong kind of damage to the wrong cell that causes the cancer.

For more information on skin cancer, go to the skin cancer website at http://www.skincancer.org/.