Not So Sunny Spots
You can still get skin cancer even if you haven't spent a lifetime outdoors
Self-tanners are a safe alternative for people who want a golden glow that doesn't depend on radiation. These products contain a colorless sugar that stains the skin's surface cells darker, although most do not offer any protection from the sun's rays. Self-tanners were the fastest-growing sun care product between 1999 and 2004, according to Euromonitor International, a market research company.
The nonprofit Skin Cancer Foundation (skincancer.org) recommends that people who go out in the sun wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor, or SPF, of at least 15. This will block 93 percent of the sun's ultraviolet type B rays, which are primarily responsible for skin cancers. Sunscreen should be reapplied every two hours and right after swimming. In addition, sunbathers should wear fairly tight-knit clothing, sunglasses, and a hat. Try to stay in the shade between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun is hottest.
Since most skin cancers, even melanoma, are curable if caught soon enough, early detection is key. Check your own body for new or changing moles, lesions, or other spots on your skin once a month, and visit a dermatologist for a professional skin check annually. Any lesion that changes size, shape, or color, or that begins to itch, doesn't heal, bleeds intermittently, or becomes worse over the course of a month should be examined right away. Shonda Schilling, 38, who has had five melanoma surgeries since 2001 and who founded the Shade Foundation to educate people about skin cancer, says some of her skin lesions didn't look bad at all. "It doesn't have to look nasty to be skin cancer," says Schilling. "If you wait until it's as nasty looking as the pictures in books, it's probably going to kill you."
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