This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bryant chapter.
Skin cancer develops primarily on areas of sun exposed skin including the scalp, face, lips, ears, neck, chest, arms and hands, and on the legs of women. It affects people of all skin tones, including those with darker complexions.
The Symptoms
Check yourself for:
- A pearly or waxy bump
- A flat, flesh colors or brown scar like lesion
- A firm, red nodule
- A flat lesion with a scaly, crusted surface
- A large brownish spot with darker speckles
- A mole that changes in color, size, or feel
- A small lesion with an irregular border
The Facts
- Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States
- More than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually
- Over the past three decades, more people have had skin cancer than all other cancers combined
- One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime
- One person dies of melanoma every 57 minutes
- An estimated 76,690 new cases of invasive melanoma will be diagnosed in the US in 2013
- About 86% of Melanoma’s can be attributed to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun
- A person’s risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns at any age
- People who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75 percent
- More than 90 percent of the visible changes commonly attributed to skin aging are caused by the sun
Watch this video below to learn about Shonda Schilling’s (wife of Curt Schilling) cancer battle:
This article was written by Danielle Brouilette and Tate Sahagian