We avoid skin cancer symptoms by starting to protect our skin when we are children.
Skin cancer symptoms usually don’t show up when you are a child.
They will usually wait till you are a mature adult. Then those early symptoms are usually what call your attention to something being wrong with your skin. The symptoms make you aware that changes have or are occurring.
Do you know why your skin reacts as it does? Do you know what a pre-skin cancer spot looks like?
So again, skin cancer is a spot on your skin surface where your skin is different. Your body’s reproducing new skin cells to repair and protect.
This new skin cell repair goes on all the time. It works so smoothly you are unaware of what is happening. Then all of a sudden, your body receives the message that is something happening on your skin. A small spot is overproducing cells and becomes a dry raised patch.
You have a small patch of skin where the protective barrier of your skin has been compromised. For some reason, it is no longer healthy and strong and able to do its job. There are some irregularities. Something is different.
The signal has been sent that there is some repair that is still needed. Your body jumps in repair mode and starts producing cells to replace the ones that have been damaged. These cells will quickly die and fall off, as they are no longer healthy.
Their lifeline is shorter, and repair must happen quickly to protect your body from all the attacks the skin protects you from. There is an emergency. Hurry, hurry get this replacement cell done!
Raising Awareness
Your skin is the biggest organ in your body. Remember, organs support the other parts of your body. They all work together for a healthy you.
When that alarm is sounded to reproduce and repair the cells that are weakened? This is usually because some of the cells have had a portion of their DNA damaged. The old cells, as well as the ones around this most damaged spot, are not sure how to proceed.
They have lost their guide. That DNA is giving mixed messages. Do the cells need to drop off that are damaged, or do new cells grow over them and protect them? The growing guide that normally regulates how they grow and replace themselves is sending signals that are different.
Not sure how to proceed, but the notice to grow and reproduce has been sent, reactions will vary. Sometimes you will have an open sore spot. Sometimes results will be small fluid-filled blisters. It could be an itchy spot. There are many ways your skin will try to repair itself.
Have You Noticed
The cells don’t fit down in the spot they were supposed to fit. They don’t look exactly like the cells they are replacing. The result is the new cells look a bit different, and don’t fit as well. There is confusion on the surface of your skin.
There can be some change in the color of the new cells. They may be larger or smaller than the ones they are replacing. Some of the ones that should drop off might not flake off as quickly. How can the damaged cell complete its cycle?
This whole process can take months, or it can take mere weeks. Your skin usually completely replaces itself in about 28 days. Remember this is the surface of your skin. When you last has a slight injury on your hand that resulted in a scab, how long before the area seemed back to its original self?
If your sun overexposure goes deeper than just a layer or two of skin, you will need longer to heal your skin. Our skin is a miracle and takes good care of us for a long time. It can take care of us and heal itself until it can’t.
Repair Time
When your body is in repair mode, it is producing those cells regardless of enough space to allow them to fit as they had. Your repair system is busy getting this protection back down. There may be bumps. Different colors.
Lots of things can happen. Nothing really so different by itself, but incident after incident? Then you finally become aware of something different happening. You scratch at the funny-looking bump, and it flakes off, only to return. This is how skin cancer usually manifests itself.
Now you know it is there. You are more aware. It keeps coming back. It is time to visit a dermatologist. Hopefully, a bit of attention from the Dr and you are ready to go again. However, there will be warnings about protecting your skin, coming back in 6 months.
Skin cancer happens to every 1 in 5 people in the course of their lifetime. Most are cured with helo from your dermatologist. However, occasionally the skin cancer does not respond well.
More people die from skin cancer than from smoking! Skin cancer is caused by too much sun on your skin. This is preventable. You made the choice to stay out in the sun.
Another lifestyle choice, smoking is something you choose to do. You do make choices.
What Caused The Breach In Your Skin’s Protection?
In our part of the world, the cause of this damage to your skin is usually caused by exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. We have become a sun-loving society. Much more time is spent in the direct sunlight than generations before us.
Additionally, we are a society that wears less clothing to block the sun. There are more of us living in the direct sunshine parts of the world with fewer of us engaged in agriculture.
Were you playing golf when you got your sunburn? Fishing on the river? Did you just get careless and sit in the sun too long at your kid’s ball practice?
Most people who work in the direct sun are more careful about their skin. They know that they are miserable for their days work if they get too much sun directly on their skin. As they must work, they are generally wearing long-sleeved shirts. Hats. Maybe something to protect their neck and ears.
Parts You Don’t Notice
Remember, your back gets damage as well. Often the time spent at the pool as a kid can set you up as an adult to have problems sooner rather than later. Thinner shirts that allow more of the sun’s rays through will contribute to sunburn and the resulting skin damage.
Be sure and check your back, or get someone to help you and visually check your back for sun damage. Teach your child by telling them that you are checking for symptoms of skin cancer when you do check their backs.
Your ears and neck also need to be checked regularly. These are two places where skin cancer appears first.
Do You Know What To Look For?
One of my reliable and knowledgeable sources states that at least 50% of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned people will have cancer by the age of 65. This analysis was made a few years ago.
New information has suggested that because of lifestyle changes in our society, this needs adjusting. There will be a higher percentage of light-skinned people who also have blue or green eyes developing skin cancer younger in life.
The darker-skinned, darker-eyed people will also develop skin cancer in higher percentages than the earlier numbers predicted. This will happen earlier in life as well. We live differently. More work indoors and when they are in the sun will be sunburned more often.
We are just out in the sun for fun and are unprotected more. We expose our skin to the sun more often and are sunburned earlier in life.
Avoid Skin Cancer Symptoms
With your new awareness, you can improve your and your family’s odds of not having skin cancer symptoms. You can wear sun-blocking clothing. Avoid being out in the ultraviolet rays stronger times. Being out in the direct sunlight between 10 AM and 4 PM is a direct path to a sunburn. Limit exposure during these times.
Wear sun blocking clothing. Know which of your shirts does the best job of protecting your skin. The sun blocking clothing industry has stepped up to the plate. They are giving you good and attractive choices for clothing to wear to protect yourself from skin cancer.
Helping you take better care of your skin. What Is The Sun Blocking Clothing Mystery?
Family Awareness of Skin Cancer Symptoms
Help your family develop good skincare habits for being in the sun. When they understand that they can help protect themselves, you will find a more cooperative attitude.
Talk to your kids about the first signs of skin cancer. Don’t shield them from the ever-present danger of sunburn. Make them participants in their self-protection.
The following link will give you some visuals to help you and your children understand what to watch for. These are the pre-cancer lesions that are the first actual appearance of a damaged area. https://www.webmd.com/melanoma-skin-cancer/ss/skin-cancer-and-skin-lesions-overview?ecd=wnl_can_091520&ctr=wnl-can-091520_nsl-LeadModule_cta&mb=YF5
Helping to make your family aware of the dangers of skin cancer, and helping them to know why and how to help themselves is important. They can help you take care of their skin.
Helping your family understand the importance of sun blocking clothing is a major step in helping them understand how to protect themselves.
Family Pool Time
Many families now spend more time around the family pool and have lots of swimsuit time. They need to understand that the sun can cause sunburn. Help your family know that after swimming, it is sunscreen or sun blocking clothing if they are remaining in the sun.
Ultraviolet rays are so strong, but the hours between 10 AM and 4 PM are often the preferred swimming times. Your kids are smart. Help them with some information and education so they can avoid skin cancer symptoms. Help them have healthy skin cancer symptom-free bodies.
Make sure they have sun blocking clothing as well as umbrellas or shade of some kind to help protect their skin. This is important to produce healthy skinned adults. We have to use this skin for a long time. It will need some care.
Sami’s Take On Skin Cancer Symptoms
Changing our approach to protecting our skin from the sun is a challenge. You will find that you win your battles with your personal changes easier if you approach the whole thing a small step at a time.
As I review my years in the sun, doing what I can to keep the family members out of the direct sun, from 10 AM until 4 PM would have made a big difference. Then if we had problems with sports practices at those times, we could have addressed the sessions with better sun blocking care.
This I say after it is too late for my family. We will live out our lives with the skin cancer dangers from so many past exposures. We all are more careful, and future damage will be from past damage. Hopefully, the incidents of skin cancers can be easily handled in the dermatologist’s office.
We learned too late. Our grandkids have been better protected.
Learning about the results of lifestyle choices can help you before you make the same mistakes.
Wear sun blocking clothing, a sun hat, sunglasses, and a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt of tightly-woven fabric. Apply sunscreen on your face, neck, and ears. There is some reflection when out in the UV rays. Consider long pants to protect your legs. Shoes for your feet.
Take breaks in the shade. Stay hydrated and help yourself enjoy a skin cancer-free life.