Unprotected sun exposure not worth the risk
With warm weather and summer approaching, laying out in the sun and getting tan may be on students’ minds. However, Jim Davis said he advises tanners to be very cautious about the damaging effects of ultraviolet rays.
“You have to avoid UV exposure,” said Davis, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center at USU. “Everyone thinks a tan is healthy, but it’s just not worth it.”
The incidence of skin cancer in the United States is about 800,000 cases per year, he said, and sun exposure is “definitely the number one cause.”
“You should have been here this morning,” he said. “I just extracted nine moles from a student who was worried about skin cancer.”
Davis said treatment varies depending on the type of skin cancer. If it’s invasive then the patient must have it surgically removed, he said, which requires an anesthetic. He said it can be painful but cuts away the cancer spots. Chemotherapy treatments may also have to be done to prevent the spread, he said, which can make the patient nauseous, vomit and lose his or her hair.
When it comes to the cost, skin cancer treatment expenses vary. Localized skin cancer can be removed at the student health center for less than $30, Davis said, but an incision on the face may require plastic surgery and skin grafting that can cost up to $100,000.
Susan Hansen, 58, said she had a small lesion of basal cell cancer removed from her upper chest area when she was 34. Hansen said her treatment was simple and not very painful because the cancer was localized and the doctor just cut it off and stitched her up.
Her father had squamous cell cancer on the crown of his head, she said, but he did not recognize it at first.
“He thought it was just a scabby sore that would not go away,” she said, “so he put alcohol on it to try and heal it and waited for six months before he went to the doctor.”
Hansen said by the time her father’s cancer was diagnosed it had grown into part of his skull. He had three surgeries to try and get it all, she said, and it has been successful for the past nine years. He was fortunate enough not to have had chemo, she said, but the remaining wound is about the size of a half dollar on the top of his head.
Davis said skin cancer is always much better if it can be caught earlier, but with moles and freckles appearing frequently, people may wonder how exactly to know if they are at risk. To detect skin cancer, he said, there are general guidelines to follow when things become suspicious.
“The rule is to get rid of anything bigger than a pencil eraser, multicolor, changing in color, irregularly edged or basically any type of change,” he said.
If people are uncertain, they should take an up close, color, in-focus digital picture, Davis said, and then take subsequent photos at one month, six months, eight months, 10 months and one year. If there is any change, they should look at getting the spot removed, he said.
After she had her skin cancer removed, Hansen said, she realized that she had a few habits growing up that likely contributed to the damage. She said when she was a teenager she laid out in the sun frequently and got very dark.
“Sometimes I even got pretty burned,” she said, “because I would always use baby oil and never sun block.”
Some people may assume that having a base tan is better than getting sun burned. Davis said although it does take more radiation to get a burn, “UV rays are still UV rays.”
“Being tan isn’t better than being burned, it’s just less bad,” he said. “Neither would be ideal.”
When it comes to attempting to undo the damage done from the sun, Davis said, destroying the skin with liquid nitrogen is really the only way that the pre-malignancy in the skin can be changed.
“A chance to cut is a chance to cure,” he said.
Hansen said because of all the time her father spent in the sun farming, he also has pre-cancer on his arms and yearly the doctor applies nitrogen to freeze the cancer spots.
“It is extremely painful,” she said, “and leaves sores that last up to a week.”
Although there are many treatments available for skin cancer and the survival rate has increased, Davis said, some cases can be fatal, especially cancer of pigment cells called melanoma.
When evaluating peoples’ risk for cancer, there are some complexions that are more prone to it, like people with pale skin, he said, because the darker or olive complexions have more pigment that helps protect the skin and absorb the ultraviolet rays and keep them from hitting the deep cell layers.
Jenna Oldroyd, sophomore in public relations, said she has olive skin so she goes tanning at a salon and lays out in the sun without protection. She said she is aware of the effects UV rays can have but said she isn’t scared of getting skin cancer because her dermatologist told her that she has a low risk because of her skin tone.
“I don’t ever use sun block because I never get burned,” she said.
Davis said he advised people of all skin types to use the highest level of SPF, even those who don’t burn. Ultraviolet light is a carcinogen, he said, and people should avoid these rays because they “weaken the elastic fibers in the skin making them sag and wrinkled.”
Sarah Carr, junior studying history, said, “As a rule, I don’t lay out in the sun without sunscreen.”
Carr said she isn’t scared about getting skin cancer because she doesn’t spend a lot of time in the sun unprotected, but she said she is worried about getting wrinkles.
“I’d like to look my age,” she said.
The habit of applying sunscreen is healthy, safe and will leave no room for regret in future years, Davis said. Looking back, Hansen said, she wished she would have been more careful about UV exposure.
“I would not be so vain, shallow and stupid about tanning,” she said. “It not only heighted my risk of cancer, but has contributed to wrinkles and other skin damage.”
Hansen said her father always wears a hat when he is outside now and covers his arms as well.
“My dad wishes he would have worn a hat all the time,” she said, “but back then things were different and they didn’t even know about sunscreen.”
Hansen said her advice is that tanning is not only risky, but costly and a waste of money. She said she has changed her behavior and hopes to take better care of her skin from now on.
“I just don’t lay out in the sun anymore,” she said. “I still don’t use sun block but I try to use common sense when I’m outside.”
–natalie.c@aggiemail.usu.edu