Nikki Sommer, a nurse practitioner from Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning for Medical Matters.
May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer.
Sommer said, “It arises from the basal cells in the skin. Like I said, it’s the most common skin cancer overall, it grows very slowly, meaning that it tends not to spread to anywhere else in your body. It could be a pearly or a shiny bump, pink or flesh colored lesion. Sometimes you might see tiny, little blood vessels in it. It may bleed, it won’t heal. It could feel a little rough as well. So where does it show up? On your face, your nose, your ears and your neck.”
What is squamous cell carcinoma?
Sommer said, “It arises from the squamous cells in the skin. It is the second most common skin cancer, and it is way more aggressive than basal cell skin cancer. So it does look rough, scaly, crusted and ulcerated lesions. These tend to appear and sometimes people think it’s a wound, like they bump their arm, or they cut their arm, and then they have this wound, and it won’t heal, and it forms a crust, and then it bleeds again. It can have redness and inflammation around the area. It also may hurt. That is a sign of squamous cell carcinoma. So again, most common locations are the face, lips, the scalp and the hands. So if you have any of that anywhere on your body, if you have any lesion that looks suspicious, get it checked out. See a dermatologist. Doctor Smith takes skin cancer or skin lesions off the body all the time. It could be done in the office, if it’s small enough. So definitely pay attention to your body and anything that doesn’t look right, get it checked out.”
Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer.
Sommer said, “It is the one that I had on my back. Mine was the little, tiny dot that we found luckily in time. It was contained to its little self. Melanoma is the cancer of pigment producing cells, melanocytes. It is less common, but it is the most dangerous, because melanoma can spread to other organs, if not caught early, so it can spread to your internal organs as well as outside on the body. It usually starts outside, and then it can invade towards the inside of your body and spread to the organs. So what we need to look for there is the A, B, C, D, E rule. It is, A is for asymmetry. B is for a border irregularity. C is for color variation, meaning you have browns and black or white spots or red. If you don’t have a border, if it looks like a foreign country and has multiple different color variations in it, it’s something you want to have checked out. Diameter. If it’s something that’s growing or it’s Evolving, it’s changing in a short amount of time, you need to have that checked out right away. It could be melanoma.”
Melanoma can show up almost anywhere.
Sommer said, “We’ve diagnosed people with melanoma in the rectum. It could be anywhere. If something doesn’t seem right, if it appears quickly, if it’s changing quickly, go have it checked out, get a biopsy right away. Of course, we can do that at our office. Dr Smith, she will definitely take off any suspicious looking lesion. We send it out to a pathologist.”
What is the treatment?
Sommer said, “Surgical removal, most surgery is pretty big, especially if it’s basal cell cancer on the face. Topical medications. They do have this one, you put it on your skin, it looks like you give yourself a burn, but it basically kills all the pre cancer cells on your skin. Radiation and immunotherapy for advanced melanoma, most skin cancers are highly treatable when caught early enough. So the key is again, have regular skin checks, especially down here. We live in Florida, and the Keys were exposed to the sun all the time, just anything again, that changes. Have your partner look at your back. A lot of times we can’t see what goes on on our back, so make sure there’s nothing . Have somebody look at your back for any type of irregular lesion.”
Prevention is really the key.
Sommer said, “Again, SPF 30 plus every day, and that means that if you spend a lot of time outside. If you applied in the morning, that’s great, but make sure you reapply it every two hours if you are going to be outside for an extended period of time, even when it’s cloudy out. You still get sunburn when there’s clouds in the sky. So we’re heading into rainy season, when we get a lot of overcast weather. And you think it’s a break because the sun isn’t beating on you, but the sun’s rays are there. They’re powerful, and they can burn. Avoid peak sun times after noon. I believe it’s between noon and three. You want to kind of stay out of the sun. Wear protective clothing, a lot of our clothing, if you’re boating, if you’re going to the beach, even if you’re at the pool, wear those protective clothing that have SPF in them. They help block out the sun’s rays. And absolutely no tanning beds, although down here, I don’t think you need one.”
Consistency is also the key.
Sommer said, “So just remember, like we always say, pigment is pesky. Prevention is powerful. The sun causes the pigment in your skin, that pigment can change and turn into cancer. So we want to try and prevent that. More and more people I speak to are being a little bit more proactive with using SPF, I feel, though, like for women, it comes a little bit easier, because now they put a lot of SPF in moisturizers and tinted face creams, so it’s easier for women when it can be part of their routine. The one thing that isn’t is the consistency of reapplying it every two hours. If you’re going to be in the sun, if you’re leaving your house and you put on sunscreen and you’re going to go work in an office from eight to five, you’re okay. You’re protected. At least for women, I find it’s easier for them than men. Men, it’s kind of they’re not into skincare a lot. Some are, some aren’t. It depends age group wise. My husband, I’m lucky if he uses soap an water on his face, forget moisturizer with sunscreen in it.”
For more information on how Key West Surgical Group can help, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/