For fire safety, we should all change the batteries in our smoke alarms at least once a year. Some fire safety organizations promote “change your clocks, change your batteries,” as a way to remember when. FEMA estimates that "when working smoke alarms are present, the chance of dying from the fire is cut in half.”

What does this have to do with Melanoma?

I’d like to see us adopt calendar-based reminders for skin exams, too, which are also lifesaving activities. Skin cancer prevention tends to be top-of-mind during the summer months when outdoor activity is ramped up and retailers are pushing umbrellas and sunscreen. So, that’s one seasonal reminder: check your skin when you return from a summer vacation.

Here’s another seasonal, or activity-based, reminder: check your skin after a return from your winter vacation, too. Those getaways to sunny ski slopes are equally as dangerous as summer sun…sometimes more so.  Skin-Care News posted a decent article on some smart cold-weather protection and pampering ideas for skin. (This isn’t an endorsement of products, but that muscle soak sounds pretty good to me!)

Just remember that sun safety and skin-cancer prevention is essential year round – especially on the mountains – so add your ABCD’s and E’s to the calendar after your January or February vacation, for example!

Speaking of which, let’s pay tribute to the life-saving contributions of NYU and the 25^th Anniversary of their development of that ABCDE acronym for skin-exam how-tos.

ADD's Downloadable Mole Map Guide

It was 1985 when the erudite Dr Alfred Kopf and NYU fellows Robert Friedman, MD, and Darrell Rigel, MD, created the original ABCD guide, "evolving” it about five years ago with Dr. David Polsky for the added "E”.

Here’s an idea to really make the most of your regular exam: Make one of those vacations a trip to the Big Apple, and book your annual MoleSafe exam at NYU! Per my recent post, we are thrilled to have that esteemed and forward-thinking institution as a MoleSafe partner. And when you’re here in New York City, there are some great slopes – and great beaches, too — right nearby.

Just remember to pack the sunscreen either way.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.