Researchers from the University of Valencia found that 34% of ultraviolet radiation filters through under beach umbrellas. The umbrellas catch almost all of the direct rays but not the diffused radiation that penetrates through from the sides.

While you’ll read a lot about melanoma awareness, prevention and early detection here at Melanoma Updates, it’s important to remember that “an excess of ultraviolet radiation is not only related to the appearance of melanoma, they say, it is also connected to sunburn, photoageing, many eye disorders (especially cataracts), weakness of the immune system and DNA damage.”

So, sometimes a cover-up can be the whole story.

“in many ways, this series is not about cancer per se.  It’s about living the life we want to live and not wasting our precious time!”

“Seizing the day” can be a good prescription for any human being, and I encourage it wholeheartedly (though not as foolhardily, perhaps, as she does, when she knocks down her porch and shade tree to spontaneously add a swimming pool to her small front yard!)  However, I would remind viewers that while the most serious and often most aggressive form of skin cancers, melanoma can be treatable and when caught early especially with proper screenings does not have to be a death sentence.

Aside from that, it is good to see the disease brought to light.  While there is not much apparent sidebar content or instructive information about melanoma on Showtime’s site, there is an alliance with the American Cancer Society that promises donations in exchange for viewing a clip of the show…a good approach to raise awareness of the show, for sure, but also for our passion: raising awareness about melanoma.

View Big C trailer to have $1 Donated, thanks to Showtime and American Cancer Society

And here’s a link to the Big C Facebook page in case you want to participate there (to be sent right to that page be sure you’re logged in on Facebook) and weigh in.  Oddly, though, neither that Facebook page or the Showtime page for the show itself seem to provide any links to the More Birthdays Facebook page which they are supporting.  That is a lost opportunity to drive more donations and align themselves deeper with the cause.  Clearly, this is a “comedy that plays with dark and light tones.”  And entertainment sells, but there is always more room for responsible education, even if via links from their site.

In terms of Cathy’s life expectancy, as depicted on the show, it is, unfortunately fairly accurate:  The typical survival rate for patients with metastatic melanoma is six to nine months.  However, the new drug you may have read about here in June and elsewhere is continuing to show some promise in extended life expectancy, if slowly:

Metastatic melanoma patients who took the drug demonstrated a median survival rate of 10 months, a 3.6 month improvement over those who did not take the medication.

No one is laughing about the seriousness of melanoma.  But we all must just keep trying to find the joy, if even through television escapes.

Optimizing Preparedness?

Truth be told, the blog, written by Jennifer Amundsen, is well-written and informative, and the other ads that rotate in do reflect other issues. I just happened to catch it with a somber underscore.  So, yes, be sure your life insurance policy is up to date, but if you practice sun safety and regular screenings and mole-mapping we hope you won’t need it for a long, long time.

Picture the polish dryers so prevalent in virtually every salon; don’t they look like little tanning beds for your fingers?  Well, there’s a similarity. Apparently, they emit “similar amounts of UV radiation per meter squared, studies show. And like tanning beds, they emit predominantly UVA rays, which penetrate the skin most deeply.”

There are no definitive studies on exact correlation to skin cancer cases, but the advice given is smart:  Consider air-drying (indoors.)

For sun worshipers worried about the damage they may have wreaked on their skin, the CentraState Healthcare System has introduced a new screening and surveillance system aimed at improving early detection of melanoma.

The system, known as MoleSafe, combines physical skin examinations with full-body photography and dermoscopy, which allows physicians to take a microscopic look at skin lesions.

CentraState in Freehold Township is the first hospital in the state to offer the program. There are five additional MoleSafe clinics around the country, including one in Millburn.

So please forward to your friends and loved ones, tweet, post and email away!

Thank you.

I see people all the time now with sunburn from mild to quite severe and I want to ask them if they know what they could potentially be doing to themselves.  A friend of mine said she used baby oil recently. I said I used to use that. Look at me now. She promised she wouldn’t do it again. I hope she doesn’t.   You see until this happens to you, you take many things for granted too, like our skin. We pay little or no care to what we subject it to when we spend hours in the sun just to get a tan and laugh and joke about our silly tan lines and our white bottoms afterwards.  I have to say I dont miss the white bottom but I do miss being sun kissed. Now I feel like I’m being sun bashed. lol  You cant get a skin transplant. Once you get melanoma you cant un-get it!

Mrs. Ayers writes with a charming candor that may help the healthy as well as those sharing her challenge to keep a good perspective:

One day at a time, one bus ride [to radiation therapy] at a time one zapping at a time.  I go to bed early most evenings so I’m never knackered in the mornings although it takes me time to actually oil my my facial muscles to smile first thing.  So poor hubby gets grumparse Alethea whilst everyone on the bus gets to see me awake and chirpy Alethea. By the time I get back its time to get my son from day care.  He is such a happy baby (gets it from me lol) I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself.

In another entry she mentions her belated understanding of how day to day sun exposure that we may not even think of can creep up on us, such as hanging an arm out the window while driving.  It’s a good reminder that defensive driving should include sunscreen!  And checking that arm regularly — and other places where you may unconsciously get day to day exposure – as a more frequent part of your skin self-exam is a good idea, as mentioned by Dr. Richard Besser of Good Morning America:

No matter what your skin color, you have to check your skin regularly for signs of skin cancer. The first place to check is any area that is sun-exposed: your face, neck, ears, hands and your back and legs if you’re at the beach. Don’t forget your arm if you hang it out the window while you’re driving. Balding men should check their scalps — even the skin exposed by the part in your hair.

As Mrs. Ayers reminds us, please don’t take your skin for granted.

While getting your picture taken in a hospital gown is not most people's idea of a flattering photo shoot, especially when it includes unusual poses, but it could be a life saver.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you may also have recognized our own Maddie Pallamary, RN, from the MoleSafe Millburn location, who conducted the patient examination.  I’m very proud of the calming, professional and informative style that Maddie clearly exhibits, as do all of our staff clinicians and physicians around the country, and which is so reassuring to new patients.

It is truly exciting to have such an esteemed institution as NYU Langone Medical Center as MoleSafe’s first U.S. hospital partner. But whether it is there in New York City, or Albuquerque, Savannah…or any of our now 6 locations, please consider getting this potentially lifesaving screening for you and your loved ones.

We truly hope future news coverage about Melanoma will be about its decline vs our ongoing battle to raise awareness and skin cancer prevention.

The Right View

“View” lets physicians examine images WHILE the patient is in the office for an exam, which enables not only a more thorough exam by the doctor, but more information back to patients in real-time. [Read more in my post from November, when View was unveiled at the International Dermoscopy Society Conference.]

Previously, even with a dermatoscope, doctors reviewed only a few moles and could never be fully confident that their naked eye scrutiny discerned some of the finer, or questionable moles. For dermatologists who refer patients to MoleSafe for a comprehensive and state-of-the-art screening, this software is available for use in their offices at no charge. We just feel it is imperative to bring the opportunity for the best options for melanoma detection to as many patients as possible…and View enables a more clear, super enlarged view of all moles for doctor review, with the ability to pause on any questionable areas and compare the patient’s actual skin along side the macro images that have been delivered to the screen.

Based on the feedback we’ve gotten, this looks to be revolutionizing doctor/patient relationships and the very process of screening for  earlier detection of melanomas, especially among high risk patients.

We encourage all of our readers to review the MoleSafe web site FAQs, and to take advantage of the increasing ways and places to get the most efficacious skin cancer examination… and help us make early, accurate detection a team effort among patients, their doctors, and technology.

This Thursday (new date), 7/8, at 5:45A and 6:45A hours, please look for my interview with Dr. Max Gomez on WCBS-TV (channel 2), when we’ll discuss advances in melanoma detection and our new clinic at  NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER, the first Hospital in the United States to offer MoleSafe’s cutting-edge Melanoma detection service.

New Jersey MoleSafe associate appointed Chairman of Governor’s Cancer Prevention Task Force

As noted in the Asbury Park Press, our own Dr. Jarrod Kaufman, a surgeon on staff at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold Township which recently added the MoleSafe program to their screening services, has been appointed New Jersey chairman of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) Cancer Liaison Program. He is also the chairman of the melanoma work group of the New Jersey Governor’s Task Force on Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Treatment. We are proud such an esteemed physician is a proponent of our screening services.

Oh – and one more note:  MoleSafe is proud to welcome not only CentraState Medical Center to our family of MoleSafe screening locations, but now Nancy N. and J. C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion at St. Joseph’s/Candler in Savannah, GA as well.  Check out all of our locations and get an appointment to get checked out today.

Tanning and Taxes

Cancer prevention is a timely topic with the big summer holiday upon us.  But it’s not just sun-protection while having outdoor fun that is getting press. CBS Evening News was one of many covering the new 10% sales tax that kicked in today on tanning salons.  See the full story here at the 13:35 mark.

Have a fun and sun-smart holiday weekend!

To Top it Off: Sun Safety

FYI, at these fairs it’s easy to negotiate for a discount if you buy more than one, so consider a hat for yourself, too!

Another good thing to do for yourself and a loved one is to have regular  skin cancer screenings.

What topped off my weekend though was  also the opportunity to share this story about digital dermoscopy and MoleSafe’s thorough melanoma screenings, thanks to recent press on AssociatedContent.com.   Please share this info with all your friends and relatives as we enter into the season of “fun in the sun.”

Just don’t forget your hat.