Skin Cancer Awareness Month

This month is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and sports massage therapist Lauren O'Sullivan shares some helpful guidelines in what to look for and how to protect yourself as well as her personal experience of a skin cancer scare.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month! Did you know that skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers if signs are caught early? This blog post is here to help you know what to look out for. As a soft tissue therapist I see a lot of skin, and so I am fairly attuned to noticing subtle changes, but how well do you know your own skin?
 
This month find some time to give yourself a skin check from head to toe - you will need to use a mirror. Don’t forget to look at your face and scalp. You can use a hairdryer to part your hair when looking at your scalp, or get someone to help you. You are looking for anything new, changing or unusual. So what is unusual?

• A growth that increases in size and appears pearly, transparent, tan, brown, black or multicoloured.
• A mole, birthmark or brown spot that increases in size, thickness, changes colour or texture, or is bigger than a pencil eraser.
  
• A sore or spot that continues to itch, hurt, crust, scab or bleed.
  
• An open sore that does not heal within three weeks.  

The ABCDE’s of melanoma:
A is for asymmetry - it looks different to a round or oval mole.
B is for border - melanoma borders tend to be uneven and may have a scalloped edge.
C is for colour - multiple colours are a warning sign.
D is for diameter or dark - 6mm or larger. Is it darker than your other moles?
E is for evolving - CHANGE in size, shape, colour or elevation of a spot on your skin.

Document your findings somewhere so that you can refer back to them next time you do a check. This is useful when trying to work out if anything has CHANGED. Skincancer.org recommends that you do a skin check once a month, but every 3 months is probably a little more realistic and works just fine.
 
The other important prevention method is protecting your skin from sun damage. The more you burn your skin from sun exposure, the greater your risk of developing melanoma. Five or more sunburns more than doubles your risk of developing melanoma. Even if you are tan or have dark skin, your skin can still be damaged by the sun especially when there is a high UV index - when and where the sun is strongest. Think about some simple ways to stay safe in the sun:

• Cover up with clothing. More and more clothing labels include a an Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF), the higher the factor the more blockage of UV radiation.
• Stay in the shade, especially between 10am and 4pm. Be aware that shade isn’t a perfect shield and UV rays can still pass through leaves and branches and reflect off water, glass and concrete
  

• Apply suncream. Look out for high SPF, broad spectrum (blocks UVA and UVB rays), and water resistant. For extended outdoor activity you should ideally be using SPF 30 or higher and reapply every 2 hours or after swimming or sweating.
  

---

I have had a personal experience with an abnormal mole on my upper arm. It was always dual tone in its colour, meaning that one half was darker than the other. The key thing is noticing any change, and so when the dark section started to get a little bigger and the edges became a little irregular I knew it was time to get it checked out (notice some ABCDE’s from above?). Unfortunately this was during the start of the pandemic and so it took a while for my doctor’s referral to go through in the hospital and I waited 5 months before being seen. I would not recommend this! If you or your therapist have noticed any of the changes mentioned above, be stubborn with your doctor and push for a quick referral. My appointment in the dermatology department was very thorough, they checked over my whole body for moles and immediately sent me through to get the one on my upper arm removed. Once removed, they sent the mole off for testing and fortunately it was not cancerous.

If you do notice something slightly abnormal in your skin make an appointment with your Doctor. If you have a partner you can ask them if they notice a difference from how it might have looked before (if you don’t have a reliable skin check history) or if you regularly see a massage therapist and feel comfortable asking them, see if they have noticed a change. You may be able to provide a bit more information to your Doctor this way, but the most important thing is to get it checked. Better safe than sorry. Early detection starts with you.