Checking for Signs

Because UV damage and subsequent skin cancer often begins in your childhood and early teens (when you thought your skin was bulletproof), you need to continually check for signs of cancer and ask your dermatologist to give you a skin cancer screening once a year. These protective measures are important since early detection almost always leads to a complete recovery with little or no scarring.

There are three common types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.

Basal cell carcinoma

• Most common and least dangerous skin cancer

• Appears as a lump or scaling area

• Grows slowly

• Red, pale, or pearlish in color

• Can be a non-healing sore or one that heals and then breaks down again

• Appears on areas exposed to the sun

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)

• Less serious than melanoma

• Grows over a period of months

• If left untreated, may spread to other parts of the body

• Appears as a thickened red, scaly spot

• May bleed easily or ulcerate in later stages

• Appears on areas exposed to the sun

Melanoma

• The deadliest form of skin cancer

• If untreated, cancer cells spread to other parts of the body

• Appears as a new spot or as an existing spot, freckle, or mole that changes color, size, or shape

• Usually has an irregular or smudgy outline and is more than one color

• Grows over weeks or months, anywhere on the body (not just in places that get a lot of sun)

Sun-Busting Myths

Myth: Tanning booths are a safer way to tan.

Twenty minutes in an indoor tanning booth can be the equivalent of about four hours in the sun, yet many tanning salons promote them as being safer than natural sunlight because they deliver regulated doses of UV radiation. According to the FDA, any dose of UV radiation increases your risk of skin damage, including wrinkles, sagginess, blotchiness, pigmentation, and skin cancer.

Myth: The SPF rating on sunblocks ensures that you are protected against harmful UV rays.

This is only partly true. The SPF rating on sunscreens only measures its ability to absorb, scatter, or block UVB radiation. UVA radiation however, is also known to be a major cause of some skin cancers. Unless a sunblock is labeled “broad spectrum,” your skin is probably not protected against damaging UVA rays.

Myth: I am dark complected, so I am not at risk for skin cancer.

While your skin is better at protecting itself against UV radiation, your risk of developing skin cancer rises with increases in sun exposure. The lesson: Regardless of the natural color of your skin, you should wear sunblock when spending time in the sun.

Tea For You

Research at the University of Minnesota Hormal Institute in Austin, Minnesota shows that polyphenols extracted from green tea have the potential to block skin cancer growth. In the future, look for these extracts to be key ingredients in lotions formulated to prevent skin cancer, as well as in sunblock products. While we wait for this revolution in sun care to come to market, here are three excellent green tea lines you should consider for your sun-protective arsenal:

Green Tea & Ginkgo, Aubrey Organics (www.aubrey-organics.com)

This simple three-product line consists of Green Tea & Ginkgo Facial Cleansing Lotion, Facial Toner, and Moisturizer SPF 10. Chock full of nutritious ingredients such as green tea powder, vitamin E, echinacea, blue mallow, and white camellia, Green Tea & Ginkgo is sold with the added assurance that all botanical ingredients are certified organic.

ScenTao line, Babor Cosmetics (www.babor.com)

This Asian-inspired wellness line consists of a face cream, ampoules, shower gel, body lotion, and body splash. Each ScenTao product contains several age-fighting Asian botanicals including green tea, essence of shitake mushroom, lemon grass, and ginkgo biloba.

Green Tea Spa Line, Yamaguchi (www.yamaguchifengshui.com)

The Green Tea Spa Line features seventeen rich products including lotions, creams, oils and bath products. Two standouts are the Chai Soy Milk Green Tea Body Crème and Orange Spice Ginger Massage Oil. Besides containing copious amounts of green tea, the Green Tea Spa Line offers other beneficial ingredients such as soy and wheat proteins, rice bran oil, jasmine flowers, and natural butter salts to smooth, protect, and plump up the skin.

May/June 2004

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