Rite Aid partners with Skin Cancer Foundation
Everyone is at risk of developing skin cancer, which is why it’s so important to undergo an annual skin exam — those at high risk, especially.
During the past year a partnership among Rite Aid, Aveeno and the Skin Cancer Foundation, the Road to Healthy Skin Tour detected 77 melanomas across the country.
The deadliest form of skin cancer, more than half of all melanomas are found through full-body skin examinations conducted by a dermatologist, according to a recent study.
“We have always believed that high-risk patients should be screened once a year by a physician,” said the president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, Perry Robins.
“This new study and the suspected skin cancers we found on the tour reinforce what we’ve known all along.”
In addition to the 77 suspected melanomas, more than 1,200 possible other skin cancers were detected including 350 suspected basal cell carcinomas, 113 suspected squamous cell carcinomas, and 661 suspected actinic keratoses or precancers.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. However, when detected early, it is almost always curable.
Everyone is at some risk for melanoma, but increased risk depends on several factors, including the following:
• Personal history – people who have or have had basal cell carcinoma and/or squamous cell carcinoma are at increased risk for developing melanoma. And people who have already had a melanoma are at increased risk of developing another.
• Family history – about one in every ten patients diagnosed with the disease has a family member with a history of melanoma. Each person with a first-degree relative diagnosed with melanoma has a 50 percent greater chance of developing the disease than people who do not have a family history.
• Moles - the more moles, the greater your risk for melanoma.
• Skin type - people with fairer skin are at increased risk.
• Sun exposure - both UVA and UVB rays are dangerous to the skin, and can lead to skin cancer, including melanoma. Having one or more blistering sunburns in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life. In addition, people who live in locations that have more sunlight, like Florida, Hawaii, and Australia, develop more skin cancers. About 65 percent of melanoma cases can be attributed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
Tanning beds - first exposure to tanning beds in youth increases melanoma risk by 75 percent.
The Skin Cancer Foundation recommends that highrisk patients undergo an annual full-body skin screening by a physician once a year.
