Melanoma 101: Sunscreen and Self Checks

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Melanoma 101: Sunscreen and Self Checks

When a doctor tells their patient that sunscreen prevents cancer, no one uses sunscreen. But, when the doctor tells their patient that sunscreen prevents wrinkles, people use it habitually. More often when physicians exercise the persons vanity, they change their habits. The fact of the matter is, sunblock really does prevent melanoma. And when people also check for moles and get them checked early, people live a higher quality of life than those who don’t.

Sunscreen has been shown to have a dramatic reduction in mortality due to melanoma. For example, in Australia, daily use of sunscreen resulted in fourteen percent fewer diagnoses of melanoma in 2008 that would have occurred otherwise. (Darlene Strayer)  When it comes to cancer, the less lives damaged, families torn, and lives lost the better. When shopping for a sunscreen product it can be a little difficult to know the right product, which will reduce the risk for melanoma. As anyone who has bought sunblock before, knows not all sunblock is the same. Besides all the different brands that are available, there are seemingly random numbers in bold above the acronym SPF. SPF is ratio between how long it would take unprotected skin to burn and the amount of time a sunscreen would additionally protect skin before sunburn occurs. As imagined, a higher SPF means protection for longer than a lower SPF. But, SPF protection does not increase proportionality with the SPF number. A SPF of two would absorb fifty percent of UVB rays, while a SPF of fifteen percent absorbs ninety-two percent of UVB rays and a SPF rating of thirty-four absorbs ninety-seven percent of UVB radiation. While SPF notifies of the UVB protection, it means nothing for UVA radiation that also causes melanoma. To make sure UVA protection is also in sunscreen make sure it says “broad-spectrum”. (Darlene Strayer) Lastly follow the directions on the bottle; if the sunscreen needs to be reapplied after two hours of use, reapply. Often sunscreen wears off leaving the body exposed to the sun’s radiation.

Often melanoma can be detected early. As typically the first signs of melanoma is a mole on the skin. While melanoma can occur anywhere on the skin, a simple check as often as once a month for anything suspicious can save lives. The rules for evaluating if a mole or lesion is suspicious are rather simple as they follow the alphabet. A is for asymmetrical, does it have an irregular shape. B is for border, is the border jagged or irregular. C is for color, is the mole multiple colors or uneven. D is for diameter, is the mole larger than an eraser of a pencil (1/4 of an inch). And E is for evolving, has the mole changed at all. If the mole or lesion matches any of the indicators see a dermatologist. Even if a lesion doesn’t match any of the rules above and if worried, see a dermatologist. I know I was glad when I convinced my parents that I was not a hypochondriac and seen a dermatologist, it saved my life. (Control)

Works Cited

Control, Center for Disease. What Are the Symptoms of Skin Cancer? 26 April 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/skin/basic_info/symptoms.htm. 25 Febuary 2018.
Darlene Strayer, Eliza Schub. Melanoma: Sunscreen Use. Evidance-Based Care Sheet. California: Cinahl Infomation Systems, 2017. Document.


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