Good Home Post

Soaking Up The Summer Sun Comes With Real Risk Factors

Posted on 13. Oct, 2009 by Oksana Irwin in Good Home Living, Health & Welness

Real Risk Factors of Melanoma

Summer is here; winter clothes have been stuffed into the farthest reaches of our closets, and the shorts and flip flops have been dug out from that neglected bottom drawer. There’s just something about being able to shed the layers off and enjoy the sun’s warmth against bare skin…

But soaking up the summer sun comes with risks. Although we all need to take precautions against skin cancer, those who are particularly at risk for melanoma – the most deadly form of the disease – need to be especially vigilant.

What puts you in that category?

After looking at 43 different characteristics in 300 melanoma patients and 300 healthy controls, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have reached a consensus on the six factors that count most:

1. History of blistering sunburns as a teenager
2. Red or blond hair
3. Marked freckling of the upper back
4. Family history of melanoma
5. History of actinic keratoses
6. Outdoor summer jobs for three or more years as a teenager

If you have one of these factors, your lifetime risk of melanoma goes up 200 to 300 percent.

Two factors — 500 to 1000 percent.

With three or more, it’s a whopping 2000 percent increase.

To protect yourself, be extra diligent about wearing sunblock, seeing a dermatologist at least yearly and acting fast if you a new or a changed mole.

Soars: Good Housekeeper Magazine

Tags: cancer, melanoma, mole, risk factors, skin cancer, skin protection, summer sun, sunburns