9 Skin Cancer Prevention Tips And Treatment With Chemotherapy

The development of skin cancer is certainly a risk for any individual, but particularly for those of us who spend time in the outdoors. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that by taking certain steps to protect yourself from the sun, you can safely enjoy your time outside. Here is some tips to do that:

1) Seek the shade, especially between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
2) Do not allow your skin to burn.
3) Avoid tanning and UV tanning booths.
4) Use a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher every day.
5) Apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of sunscreen to all exposed areas 30 minutes before going outside. Reapply every two hours or immediately after swimming or excessive sweating.
6) Cover up with clothing, including a broad-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses.
7) Keep newborns out of the sun. Sunscreen should be used on babies over the age of six months.
8) Examine your skin from head to toe every month.
9) See your physician every year for a professional skin exam

 How to Recognize Early Signs of Skin Cancer

Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer:

• A sore that does not heal.
• Areas of the skin that are:

1. Small, raised, smooth, shiny, and waxy.
2. Small, raised, and red or reddish-brown.
3. Flat, rough, red or brown, and scaly.
4. Scaly, bleeding, or crusty.
5. Similar to a scar and firm.

Melanoma:

• Change in the size, shape, color, or feel of an existing mole.
• A black or blue-black area.
• A new mole that may be black, abnormal, or “ugly looking.”
• In particular, watch closely for these characteristics in new and existing moles:

1. Border—edges are often ragged, notched, blurred, or irregular in outline; the pigment may spread into the surrounding skin.
2. Color—color is uneven. Shades of black, brown, and tan may be present. Areas of white, grey, red, pink, or blue also may be seen.
3. Diameter—is a change in size, usually an increase. Melanomas are usually larger than the eraser of a pencil (1/4 inch or 5 millimeters).

Treatment with Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is any treatment involving the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. Because chemotherapy involves cancer-fighting drugs that circulate in the blood to parts of the body where the cancer may have spread, it is considered a systemic treatment. These circulating drugs can eliminate cancers cells that have spread far from their place of origin.
The three main goals of treatment with chemotherapy, as determined by cancer type and stage, are:

1. To cure the cancer
2. To control the cancer
3. To relieve symptoms caused by the cancer

Depending again on the type and stage of your cancer, you may be receiving chemotherapy alone or in combination with other therapies as well as before or after another treatment. The goals of administering chemotherapy before (neoadjuvant) or after (adjuvant) another treatment are as follows:

1. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy may be administered before surgery or radiation therapy. In either case, the goal of chemotherapy is to shrink the tumor and allow the next treatment to be more effective. This entails shrinking a tumor to make it more easily and completely removed by surgery or more effectively treated with radiation.
2. Adjuvant chemotherapy may be administered after surgery or radiation. Once a cancer has been treated with surgery or radiation, it’s possible that undetectable stray cancer cells remain in the patient’s body. Chemotherapy may then be administered with the goal of destroying or preventing the growth of these stray cells.