Welcome

I'll start this off by saying I should have probably done this a long time ago. As Tiffany's cousin I can guarantee she would have had her own blog if she was still with us. My plan so far is to use this space as a place to post comments and links to melanoma-related news items I come across. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to post comments.

Ok, if you don't know it already, melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer and it kills most of the time. According to a recent Associated Press story, there is an alarming new trend. The rate of children getting serious skin cancer has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

Pediatric melanoma is uncommon in children, affecting only 7 per million, or about 500, according to 2002 statistics from the National Cancer Institute. But that number has risen from 3 per million in 1982.

This next article eerily ties right in with the above news item. More children are at risk of getting skin cancer than ever before.

An alarming number of children are exposing themselves to danger from the
sun. More than one million people will be diagnosed with skin cancer this year and you won't believe how young many of them are.

I know this is a real shocker to everyone, but tanning... is... bad... for... you. Even more amazing according to the Detroit News, teenagers don't seem to care. They'd rather be tan and risk skin cancer than be pale. Why aren't you amazed by that???

Almost 80 percent said they knew tanning can be dangerous and that childhood sunburns increase risks for skin cancer, the survey released today found. Yet 66 percent said people look better with a tan, nearly half said tans look healthier, and 60 percent said they got sunburned last summer.

Maybe it would help if teens understood what a tan really is.

Melanin is not released for the sole purpose of giving your skin a golden color; it is released as a defense mechanism, attempting to shield the inner layers of skin from ultraviolet light.

Believe it or not, having a tan - from either a tanning bed or a day at the beach - is not considered healthy.

Ok, I'm going to bash on teens again, this time teenage boys. According to the American Academy of Dermatology they are the least likely to bother protecting themselves from the sun. I don't recall being all that concerned about being sunburned as a teen so I'm not suprised.

A survey by the American Academy of Dermatology shows teenage boys are least likely to protect themselves from harmful sun rays. This may explain why studies show middle-age and older men have higher rates of skin cancer than any other gender or age group, researchers say.

Finally, if you're into golf and live in Atlanta you may be interested in this. LPGA Tour Golf Professional, Angela Jerman, has partnered up with the Women's Dermatologic Society (WDS) to promote sun protection and early detection as part of the national group's "Play Safe in the Sun" community outreach service at the LPGA Chick-Fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez, May 12-15. Click here for the press release.