About Skin Cancer

With the right care, most cases of melanoma can be prevented.... starting in childhood

Below is an overview about skin cancer, your risk of getting the disease, and how you can prevent it. Also see our Quick Facts page.

Sources:

Your Skin
The Sun and Your Skin
Types of Skin Cancer
Vitamin D and the Sun
Canadians and Skin Cancer
UV Index
Melanoma Websites

Your Skin
Our skin is the largest organ of our body and it’s health is the easiest to monitor. We can feel our skin and we can see it, so we tend to be more familiar with the health of our skin than we are our other organs. That is likely why cosmetics companies have a much easier time selling us products for our skin than doctors and naturopaths do making recommendations to help our liver, kidneys, or intestines.

We know when our skin is dry and when it starts to show signs of aging. The downside with our familiarity with our skin is that we tend to take it for granted and when it is under duress, we do not get particularly concerned. Our bodies are an amazing integrated system though and our skin plays an important role. Our tendency to under-estimate the importance of healthy skin can be detrimental to our health.

The Sun and Your Skin
What Are the Risk Factors for Skin Cancer?
Our goal is to help increase awareness of skin cancer and to help you find more information. There are some hot debates going on these days about the sun and our skin and the health benefits of Vitamin D from the sun and the potentially damaging consequences of sunscreens. All of this debate is important and will ultimately lead to a better understanding of how we can best protect our skin and our lives.

Risk factors for non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers include:

unprotected and/or excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation
fair complexion
tendency to freckle
occupational exposures to coal tar, pitch, creosote, arsenic compounds, or radium
medications such as immune suppressants
family history
multiple or atypical moles
severe sunburns as a child

Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canada and we are not even a nation known for our “Sun”. As you can imagine, the rates of skin cancer are highest in countries like Australia and southern places in the U.S., like California. Despite that, skin cancer is still one of the fastest growing diagnoses for cancer in Canada and it has become imperative that we all learn as much as possible so that we can be aware of the potential dangers and take precautions that can save our lives and preserve a part of our body that we all value so much.

If you have any concerns about your skin and possible skin cancer, contact your physician immediately.

Types of Skin Cancer
Cancer is a disease of the cells and skin cancer is a disease of our skin cells. There are 3 types :

Basal Cell – This is a cancer of the epidermis – the outermost level of the skin – it is the protective coating to our inner organs and is the toughest in texture. Basal cell cancer grows very slowly and usually appears as a small bump on an exposed area of our skin, such as our face, hands, arms, neck, etc.
Squamous Cell – This cancer may also appear as a bump or nodule, but also often presents as a persistent scaly patch of skin. It is most often found on the ears, face, lips and mouth areas.
Melanoma – Melanoma is a cancer that begins in the melanocytes – the cells that produce the skin coloring or pigment known as melanin. Melanin helps protect the deeper layers of the skin from the harmful effects of the sun. While all of the skin cancers can be dangerous if left untreated, Melanoma is the most serious of the skin cancers.

Vitamin D and the Sun
Vitamin D is essential for important functions of our body. The sun’s UV Rays trigger Vitamin D synthesis in the skin. Once synthesized in the skin, the liver and kidneys then serve to convert Vitamin D to an active hormone whose job it is to send a message to our intestines to absorb important nutrients, such as calcium and phosphorus.

A lack of Vitamin D has been linked to breast, colorectal and prostate cancers.

The Canadian Cancer Society is now recommending a daily dosage of 1,000 IU’s of Vitamin D supplement. Because exposure to the sun has been linked to skin cancer, there is a strong hesitation to recommend that people spend more time in the sun. In fact, there continues to be a standing warning to protect your skin from sun damage.

The Dilemma – Vitamin D versus Sun Damage
The sun provides us with the best source of Vitamin D possible and certainly the easiest and seemingly the cheapest to acquire, but it does come with a price – that price is the damaging side of UV rays. The sun emits Ultra Violet Radiation, referred to as “rays” and these rays are divided into 3 categories:

UVC Rays, which are too short to reach the earth’s surface, so are of no concern to us at this point.
UVB Rays, which are long enough to reach the earth’s surface, affecting everything in its path, including humans, but also all other living creatures, plant-life and even inanimate objects (we have all seen the effects of the sun on paper, furnishings, carpets, etc). These rays cause our skin to tan and burn, both of which are signs of duress and damage to our skin and is a defence mechanism that is triggered to add protection.
UVA Rays, which represent the longest of the rays of radiation, and which penetrate through the outer levels of human skin. UVA rays bore down to a deeper level and, while they are not responsible for burning or tanning of the skin, they are responsible for aging of the skin AND for eye cataracts, one of the most common ailments of our aging population today.

While the debate about Vitamin D deficiency goes on, it has been suggested that one can still receive more than adequate Vitamin D by spending less than 5 minutes/day unprotected outdoors, preferably outside of the peak sun-damaging hours of 11 am to 4 pm. Vitamin D supplements are also recommended during winter months and for those whose lifestyles tend to keep them more indoors than outdoors. As with all supplements, Vitamin D should only be taken with professional advice to avoid potential toxicity.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is NOT necessary to get a suntan or sun burn to get Vitamin D. In fact, a tan or sunburn is your skin’s mechanism to shield you from the sun’s rays when they are too intense. "Everybody has a different skin colour, not everybody burns, not everybody tans well, lots of people have a lot more pigment to start with," says Rosen, national director of the Canadian Dermatology Association. "So your individual time you can spend out in the sun, depending on what time of year it is and what time of day it is, really is variable."

Canadians and Skin Cancer
About 4,600 Canadians will be diagnosed this year with the disease and about 900 will die.

"Melanoma rates have been continuing to rise over the last 10 years, much faster in males than in females," said Heather Chappell, senior manager of cancer control policy for the Canadian Cancer Society.

As well, almost 70,000 cases of squamous and basal cell carcinomas will be diagnosed this year - making skin cancer, in terms of sheer numbers, the most common cancer of all to affect Canadians.

While rarely fatal, squamous and basal cell cancers "increase the risks of developing melanoma, and the surgery to remove them can be quite disfiguring and painful."

All three types of skin cancer – Squamous Cell, Basal Cell and Melanoma - are preventable by avoiding excess time in the sun and steering clear of tanning beds, which experts deem particularly unsafe.
What Is the UV Index?

The UV index is a simplified measurement system for the sun’s damaging rays and a guideline to protection.

UV Index

0-2 – Low Risk – minimal sun protection required (unless near water or snow). Wear sunglasses if bright.
3-5 – Moderate Risk – take precautions – wear sunscreen, sunhat, sunglasses, seek shade during peak hours of 11 am to 4 pm.
6-7 – High Risk – wear sun protective clothing, sunscreen, and seek shade.
8-10 – Avoid the sun – seek shade – wear sun protective clothing, sun screen & sunglasses. White sand increases UV radiation exposure.
11 + – Take full precautions. Unprotected skin can burn in minutes. Avoid the sun between 11 am and 4 pm, wear sunscreens & sun protective clothing.