Skin Cancer

SKIN CANCER REPORT

Veronica Hannah
Jeremiah Lopez, M.D.
A & P Red
  01/18/2011

Veronica Hannah

Jeremiah Lopez, M.D.
A & P Red
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Skin CA
Skin cancer is a cutaneous neoplasm   caused by ionizing radiation, certain genetic defects, chemical carcinogens, or by overexposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet light. It is the most common form of cancer in the United States, over 3.5 million cases are diagnosed annually in 2 million people. There are three kinds of skin cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma, and Melanoma. Sun exposure without sunscreen is one of the major risk factors for all three. Anyone who has tanned significantly or ever been sunburned has an increased risk especially those with fair skin or those that have had blisters from a sunburn.
Nearly 30 million people tan indoors in the U.S. every year; 2.3 million of them are teens. First exposure to tanning beds usually in teen years increases melanoma risk by 75 percent.   Frequent tanners using new high-pressure sunlamps can receive as much as 12 times the yearly UVA dose compared to what they receive from the sun. People who use tanning beds are 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma. Basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma are the two most frequently seen forms of skin cancer, 40 to 50 percent of Americans who live to be 65 will have either skin cancer at least once, however both are highly treatable if discovered early.
Basal cell carcinoma   begins in the stratum basale or basement layer of the epidermis . It's the most common type of skin cancer, affecting about two million Americans each year. Almost all basal cell carcinomas occur on parts of the body excessively exposed to the sun - especially the face, ears, neck, scalp, shoulders and back. Anyone with a history of sun exposure can develop basal cell carcinoma, but those with the most risk are people who... [continues]

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