Skin Care--Get Ready For Summer

Proper skin care helps prevent skin cancer and what better time to review prevention techniques than at the beginning of the warm summer months? May is listed in the Health and Wellness Calendar as Melanoma/Skin Cancer Prevention Month. Yes, summer will soon be here and Kentucky is already turning warm. It's a good time to remember why it is so important to protect ourselves from the effects of the sun's UV radiation.

Risk Factors

1. First and foremost your risk of skin cancer is related to the lifetime exposure to UV radiation
2. Most skin cancers occur after the age of 50
3. Light skin that freckels or burns easily.
4. People living in the South get more UV radiation than in the north. Higher altitudes also means more UV
5. Radiation therapy
6. Diseases that make the skin sensitive to sun
7. A family history of skin cancer or a personal history of previous skin cancer
8. Actinic keratosis--a type of flat, scaly growth on the skin most often found in areas of high sun exposure. These can become skin cancer.

Symptoms

Squamous and basal cell skin cancers are by far the most common, with 1 million new cases dignosed yearly. They can be cured if found and treated early. A change on the skin, such as a new growth, a sore that won't heal, or a change in an old growth are what to watch for. Most skin cancers are not painful.

Much less common is melanoma, with about 54,000 cases a year. But melanoma is much more serious and must be caught early. It can spread throughout the body. Only early detection will prevent this. We were taught the following mnemonic as a way to check a melanoma:

A= asymmetry. It is not round or even in appearance
B=Borders are irregular
C=Color tends to vary in different part of the same mole
D=Diameter is more than 6 millimeters

If you think there is something new or a change on your skin then make a visit to your doctor. Sometimes a biopsy is necessary to really determine what the skin change is all about.

Prevention

1. Protect children's skin from the sun. Bad sunburns in childhood are often linked to skin cancer decades later.
2. Avoid the effect of direct sun. We all love the sun, but providing skin protection with proper hats, clothing and sun block helps.
3. Use moisturizers with sunscreen protection for routine day use; you can use moisturizing night cream without the UV protection.
4. Your face and hands need extra attention, since they suffer the most exposure.
5. If you are outdoors use sunscreen with at least an SPF (sun protection factor) of 15.
6. Do a regular skin check of your whole body regularly. It is best after a shower or bath. Uuse both a full length and hand held mirror. Don't forget hard to see places--bottom of the feet, back of the neck behind the ears, scalp etc. You will learn what is normal of you and changes will more easily be picked up.
   

What We Offer 

We offer both natural Be and Aestival skin care products. Go to the Personal Care page to review what we have.  Remember these are natural products high is moisturizers, vitamins and other substances designed to aid skin damaged by time and the effects of the sun.

If you want more information about skin cancers visit the web site of the National Cancer Institute