Monitoring your skin
Make a moment now in honor of Skin Cancer Awareness month to honestly assess your own sun safety practices and identify places you can improve. Skin cancers are highly curable when caught early. This is why the American Academy of Dermatology, and the Skin Cancer Foundation recommend everyone develop a lifelong habit of checking their own skin on a regular basis for changes. Don’t wait until you have skin cancer to get motivated.
Scheduling a visit with your dermatologist for skin exam
Every day in my clinic I diagnose and treat skin cancer, educate patients about sun safety, and do preventative screenings. It’s important to have a regular screening skin exam with a dermatologist. If you have never had one, you should get a baseline and find out more about your personal risk and how often you should continue to get skin exams based on that context.
Reduce your risks
In addition to monitoring your skin to facilitate early diagnosis, sun safe practices also reduce your risk. It’s never too early, and it's never too late to benefit from practicing safety in the sun. Sun safety basics include reducing direct ultraviolet light exposure on the skin by a combination of avoidance, covering the skin with hats, clothing, and sunglasses, and wearing high quality sunscreen every day. Yes. Every. Day.
Assess you sun safe practices
Take a moment now in honor of Skin Cancer Awareness month to honestly assess your own sun safety practices and identify places you can improve. Do you use tanning beds? If so, could you set a deadline for stopping? If this is hard, enlist a supportive friend or family member to help keep you accountable. Do you wear sunscreen every day? If not, what can you do to introduce this as a new habit? If you can identify some opportunities for improvement but you are struggling with implementing them, consider visiting your dermatologist to discuss where you are struggling and strategies for making changes. There’s no shame in recognizing when a habit is unhealthy and taking steps to change it.
