Pittsburgh dermatologist shares tips for preventing melanoma
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's a tiny spot you don't even know about, but dermatologists like Dr. Charles Mount know melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer.
"Skin cancer a lot of times flies under the radar. It's asymptomatic, it doesn't burn, it doesn't bleed for most patients, especially the scary ones like melanoma," Mount said.
Mount said skin cancer eventually affects all of us in some way.
"Every time you're at the workplace and you look around, and you've got four or five coworkers around you, one of you is going to have skin cancer in your lifetime," Mount said.
Every day about 9,500 people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer. Melanoma Monday is meant to remind us about the importance of checking our skin for cancer.
"Protect yourself -- some protective clothing, wear a hat, wear some sunscreen on things that are exposed more often than not. See your dermatologist to get at least a baseline check to assess your risk, and then you can determine with them going from there how often you might need to follow up," Mount said.
The good news is your skin is one of the only organs that's visible, so melanoma can be identified. All it takes is remembering your alphabet: A, B, C, D and E.
"Any person can remember things like asymmetry, border, color, diameter, and evolution of their skin moles or lesions," Mount said.
Dermatologists like to also tell patients they should keep an eye on spots that don't get a lot of sun. Those include areas like your toes, under your nails and on the soles of your feet.
You can also find melanoma by looking for the "ugly duckling."
"You're pretty used to looking at all the spots on your body and they should look like cousins or siblings to one another when you compare them side by side. If one just sticks out, it shouldn't be in your family photo of moles, that's probably something to get looked at," said Mount.
It does help to have a trained eye identify it, but Mount said if the cancer is found early, you should have hope.
"Nowadays they really do have amazing treatment options that we didn't have even 10 to 15 years ago," Mount said.
Even with advanced medicine, have your family's back and make it a lifelong habit to examine their skin for signs of skin cancer.