This summer, remember being in the sun also means taking care of your skin. Dr. Colleen Keegan from Adult & Pediatric Dermatology of Naperville (IL) answers our skin cancer and skin safety questions.
THE BASICS
When you expose your skin to the sun or tanning bed lights, you’re exposing your skin cells to harmful ultraviolet light, which can in turn damage your precious DNA. Mutated skin cells can multiply and form tumors that spread and invade body tissue. If it spreads to your vital organs, skin cancer can become deadly.
Know your ABCDs
Skin cancer is not only easy to prevent but easy to detect, too. If you notice an unusual spot on your skin, ask yourself the following questions, which Keegan calls the ABCD’s of potential skin cancer.
If you think something on your skin has one or more of these qualities, make an appointment with your dermatologist. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Keegan typically sees her patients once a year for a full body scan. At these appointments, she keeps an eye on moles, freckles or any other skin spots for signs of change.
What do students think about…
Vitamin D?
“I used to be a frequent tanner but now just in the summer time,” Susan Endenharder, junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, says. “It’s an easy way to get vitamin D and it makes you feel good.”
“Only four visits to a tanning bed increases your chance of getting skin cancer by 18 percent,” Keegan says. “The (maximum) amount of vitamin D that your skin needs is within 10 minutes of sun exposure. You can get the proper amount of vitamin D through foods.”
Sunscreen?
“I never really wear sunscreen, I tan really easily and never burn,” said Eric Schimmel, junior in the College of Nursing.
Keegan cannot stress enough the importance of preventative measures.”Wearing sunscreen is always the number one way to protect your skin,” Keegan says. “I always tell my younger patients, 15 is the first number you should know — 15 being an SPF sunscreen to start wearing.”
Skin Cancer?
“I think of my dad and the importance of protecting yourself,” said Alison Hanley, a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences whose father endured many procedures after his melanoma diagnosis. “I know how important it is to wear sunscreen, even in the winter, so I try to use moisturizer with sunscreen.”
Keegan says, “By the time you’re born, to when you’re about 18 or 20, 80 percent of skin damage is already done. I tell my patients that our skin has a ‘memory’. What we do to it will come back to us when we’re older.”