Skin Cancer Part 3 of 3: Check Your Skin

“Discovering a skin cancer early can make the difference…
between life and death.”

The difference between life and death…” Wow. As frightening as that might be, never underestimate the power that comes with knowing the techniques for early detection. Remember, skin cancer is almost always curable — if it’s detected and removed early.

Knowing the facts enables early detection

After reviewing your risk factors in Skin Cancer Part 1,¹ and how to reduce those risks in Skin Cancer Part 2,² you are now ready to learn how to perform regular and thorough skin checks — on yourself, your spouse, and your children. Remember: You are your very best resource for detecting skin cancer in its early stages.

Exams, both personal and professional, are life-and-death important

Besides skin checks at home, schedule regular and as-needed medical skin exams for yourself and your family — especially if any of you is at increased risk for skin cancer.

Annual skin exams by a health care professional have been shown to reduce deaths from melanoma by half.³ If your skin exam wasn’t performed by an actual dermatologist, follow up with one for an evaluation of any suspicious findings. Expect your dermatologist, an MD with specialized education and experience diagnosing and treating skin cancers, to listen carefully to your concerns, perform a thorough skin examination, and clearly communicate findings and recommendations for follow-up.

Monthly personal and annual professional skin checks improve your own, your spouse’s, and your children’s chances for early detection, treatment, and survival of a skin cancer diagnosis.

Do I really need to check my children for skin cancer?

Yes, absolutely

The following facts provided by Dana-Farber on childhood skin cancer are clear: Although rare, children do develop skin cancer — and it’s almost always melanoma — the deadliest of the three most common skin cancers.⁴

The risk of melanoma increases for those children with the same risk factors as adults (fair skin, sunburns, moles, family history). Moreover, the biggest increase in melanoma diagnoses is in girls 15–19 years old, most likely related to their sunbathing and tanning bed habits as well a seeming reluctance to wear protective clothing.

If your child falls into an increased risk category, perform their monthly skin checks and schedule them for annual and as-needed skin examinations by a pediatric dermatologist.

Don’t be frightened — you can do this. Read on for the additional information you’ll need to practice good stewardship of your own and your family’s skin health:

• what a suspicious mole or lesion looks like; and
• how to perform a skin check.

When is a mole or lesion suspicious?

One or more of the following characteristics is highly suggestive of a melanoma, the most lethal skin cancer, and should be immediately evaluated by a dermatologist or, if a child, a pediatric dermatologist. To help you remember these, think ABCDE.

• A=Asymmetry
  One half is a different shape from the other.
• B=Border
  The edges are irregular.
• C=Color
  There are variations in color (tan, brown, black, red, white) within the borders. Children’s melanoma is more likely to be whitish, yellowish, or red and somewhat wart-like in appearance ⁵
• D=Diameter
  This characteristic is less definitive — while often larger than a pencil eraser, they can be smaller.
• E=Evolving
  The size, shape, color is changing or there is itching, bleeding or difference from your other moles or lesions.

Of all these characteristics, an evolving or changing mole or lesion is the most suggestive of melanoma. And you are the best person to spot these changes early. Check your skin regularly!

The characteristics of basal cell and squamous cell lesions (the most common and second most common skin cancers) may be only a growth, bump, or sore that is unusual in appearance or does not heal within a month.

The slideshow Precancerous Skin Lesions and Skin Cancer can help you recognize what you might find during your skin checks.⁶ For anything that makes you suspicious of skin cancer or pre-cancer, make an appointment with your dermatologist for an immediate evaluation.

How to perform a skin check

What you’ll need

• good lighting;
• a comb or hair dryer to part hair;
• a mirror if you’re checking your own scalp and back surfaces;
• a small flexible plastic or paper millimeter (mm) ruler;
• a flashlight; and
• a means to document what you find (paper, computer, or smartphone app).

Photographing and dating lesions and regions (your back, your chest, your thigh, etc.) is very helpful in documenting your skin status.

Measure lesions and moles using a millimeter (mm) ruler

• from side-to-side first;
• then from top-to-bottom; and finally
• the distance, if any, each is raised on the skin.

What to check

Whether performing skin checks on yourself or family members, leave no areas unexamined. This includes: the scalp and face; the fronts, tops, and backs of ears; around the neck; tops of shoulders; full front and back; as well as both sides from armpits to ankles.

Also check: the sex organs; fronts and backs of arms and legs; tops of hands and feet; and between all fingers and toes.^{7 8} The palms and soles as well as under and around all nails should be checked by everyone — but are especially important to dark complexioned persons as they are more likely to develop a virulent strain of melanoma in these areas.⁹ Did I forget anything? Check that too.

The baseline and follow-ups

The first full-body skin check can take quite a while as you are creating a baseline. Try dividing it up: all fronts, hands, and feet one day; then the scalp, all sides, and backs on another (perhaps when you have help).

Follow-up checks — when you’re looking for changes to the already documented moles and lesions or the emergence of new ones — should take only 10–15 minutes.

Keep track of what you find

As you’re checking, record each finding for each family member. You can use preprinted forms or create your own. And, not surprisingly, there’s an app for that.

As your children mature, have them join you, first checking and later recording easy skin findings. This will teach them the habit, the skills, and the importance of regular skin checks.

The skcin.org website provides a useful form to use as you inspect and document lesions and moles.¹⁰

Minimize the impact of skin cancer on yourself and your family

The importance of protecting yourself and your family from skin cancer — as well as assuring its early detection and successful treatment — cannot be overstated.

As part of your protection plan, you should:

• mandate, demonstrate, and facilitate avoidance of ultraviolet ray exposure;
• perform thorough monthly skin checks;
• schedule annual medical skin examinations; and
• schedule immediate dermatologic evaluation of any suspicious moles or lesions.

Early discovery of skin cancer can be the difference between office-based surgery and far more invasive treatment, even between life and death. Choose life.

Good stewardship

As believers, we know that God is the creator and possessor of all things in Heaven and on Earth (Genesis 1:1–27 NKJV). And that we are to be good stewards of His possessions, including His most precious possession, our bodies. “That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us” (2 Timothy 1:14 NKJV).

Practice good stewardship of not only your own skin, the protective covering of the temple of the Holy Spirit, but that of your family’s as well. Protect, monitor, and examine each person’s skin status regularly.

Let us pray

Dear Lord,

We understand checking for skin cancer is essential as good stewards of our bodies. Support us as we learn to be timely, thorough, conscientious, and persistent. Make us unafraid of what we might discover, trusting in Your ultimate goodness, being assured that Your plans are for our future welfare as promised in the Word, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV).

We place our trust in Your goodness as we pray that every member of our family may be free of skin cancer, in the name of Jesus.

Amen

SKIN CANCER TESTIMONIALS

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1. The Scariest Year, the Luckiest Year - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/true-stories/the-scariest-year-the-luckiest-year
   "The worst thing about skin cancer is, left untreated, it can kill you… My diagnosis happened completely by accident.”

2. A Dermatologist’s Battle with Melanoma - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/true-stories/battle-with-melanoma
   “It had seemed nothing more to me than an irritation of several weeks’ duration… no pain, tenderness, bleeding or dark mole that would suggest a cancerous growth.”

3. A Shocking Diagnosis by Jerry Penacoli - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 10, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/true-stories/a-shocking-diagnosis-by-jerry-penacoli
   “It was just a tiny brown freckle on my inner right thigh… Had it been on my back or another less visible part of my body, I never would have known it was there… It looks like nothing. But it was something…”

REFERENCES

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1. The Stages of Skin Cancer | Healthgrades. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2016, from https://www.healthgrades.com/conditions/the-stages-of-skin-cancer?cid=t11_flip&cb=ap

2. Skin cancer detection: every clinician’s responsibility - Print Article - The Clinical Advisor. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://www.clinicaladvisor.com/skin-cancer-detection-every-clinicians-responsibility/printarticle/501987/

3. Leadership Is Stewardship, Part 1 - The High Calling - Theology of Work. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2016, from http://www.thehighcalling.org/articles/essay/leadership-stewardship-part–1

4. Early Detection and Self Exams - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/early-detection
   The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends that everyone practice monthly head-to-toe self examination of their skin.

5. Self Screening Guide Image (n.d.) May 23, 2016, from https://www.melanoma.org/sites/default/files/u13882/SelfScreeningGuide-imgs.png

FOOTNOTES

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1. Skin Cancer Part 1 of 3: Understand Your Risks — Wellness Advice and Prayers from the Road. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pattytompkins.com/wellnessblog/2016/6/12/skin-cancer-part–1-understand-your-risks ↩︎

2. Skin Cancer Part 2 of 3: Protect Yourself and Your Children — Wellness Advice and Prayers from the Road. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pattytompkins.com/wellnessblog/2016/6/13/skin-cancer-part–2-protect-yourself-and-your-children ↩︎

3. Total-Body Examinations Cut Melanoma Deaths in Half - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/early-detection/body-exams-melanoma ↩︎

4. Can kids get melanoma? What parents need to know. (Basis for preceding childhood skin cancer facts.) (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2015/05/can-kids-get-melanoma-what-parents-need-to-know/ ↩︎

5. Can kids get melanoma? What parents need to know. (Basis for preceding childhood skin cancer facts.) (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2015/05/can-kids-get-melanoma-what-parents-need-to-know/ ↩︎

6. Precancerous Skin Lesions and Skin Cancer Slideshow. (n.d.). Retrieved May 13, 2016, from http://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/ss/slideshow-skin-lesions-and-cancer ↩︎

7. How to Check for Skin Cancer - Beauty - Health.com. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20723697,00.html ↩︎

8. Step by Step Self-Examination - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/early-detection/step-by-step-self-examination ↩︎

9. ASK THE EXPERT: Can darker-skinned people get skin cancer? - SkinCancer.org. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2016, from http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/ask-the-experts/can-darker-skinned-people-get-skin-cancer ↩︎

10. Self Examination Body Mapping. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2016, from http://www.skcin.org/downloads/SelfExaminationBodyMapping.pdf ↩︎

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