Like most Americans my age, I spent a lot of time in the sun as a child. Sun exposure was encouraged and sun block was almost non-existent. In fact, we used oils and metal reflectors to encourage the burn. My summers and most vacations were spent in a warm climate and like so many of us, I experienced many a sunburn.
I remember my father checking in with his dermatologist, sometimes more than four times per year, each visit resulting in several biopsies and a number of stitches. It was only in medical school that I realized that my father had dysphasic nevis syndrome.
Around my 12th birthday, I noticed a mole on my right thigh. I had not seen this mole before and asked my father about it. My father was not a physician but he was a highly educated man and when he looked at the mole he called my mother and I remember my father becoming anxious as then he called his dermatologist to schedule an appointment for the following morning.
I saw my father’s dermatologist the following morning not really knowing what the rush was or why this made my parents anxious. The dermatologist did a biopsy of the mole and I clearly remember my parents’ relief when they received my biopsy report. It was like a heavy weight was lifted off their shoulders. It was not till many years later that I understood about melanoma and the fear that my parents experienced on that particular day.
This is the personal reason that I am so passionate about providing a useful screening and surveillance program for patients at risk for melanoma.
Facts: (From the Skin Cancer organization website).
- Melanoma accounts for up to three percent of all pediatric cancers.
- Between 1973 and 2001, melanoma incidence in those under 20 rose 2.9 percent.
- Melanoma is seven times more common between the ages of 10 and 20 than it is between 0 and 10 years.
- Diagnoses – and treatment – are delayed in 40 percent of childhood melanoma cases.
- Ninety percent of pediatric melanoma cases occur in girls aged 10-19.
