Skin Cancer Awareness 2017
May was ‘Skin Cancer Awareness Month’ in America, an event coordinated and promoted by The American Academy of Dermatology.
The 2017 SPOT Skin Cancer™ campaign ‘Check Your Partner. Check Yourself’ set out to encourage women to check both their partners and themselves for signs of skin cancer.
The idea of targeting women to check themselves and partners was based on research which shows that women are 9x more likely than men to find melanoma on others.
Finding melanoma as early as possible is a key objective, as scientists have shown that the 5-year survival rate for melanoma when detected and treated in its early stages is 98%.
This statistic falls for later diagnosis of melanoma and 1 American dies from melanoma every hour on average.
The numbers of melanoma diagnoses in the USA are considerable:
- Nearly 9,500 people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer every day
- An estimated 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime
Check Your Partner, Check Yourself
The AAD produced a video for 2017 using a humorous approach to encourage mole checking:
Mole Checking UK
Doctors at Cosmedics Skin Clinics warn their patients to always be vigilant for suspicious moles and to regularly check themselves and loved ones in a detailed ‘top to toe’ mole check, even in the more unusual areas such as the scalp, or under the soles of the feet.
Dr Ross Perry, a leading mole removal expert who is the Company’s founder and Medical Director, calls it the ‘ugly duckling sign’ and advises patients to seek medical attention as soon as possible to rule out skin cancer.
Cosmetic Moles
If the mole is deemed to be ‘safe’, then removal on the NHS is now quite unlikely as it will be classed as a cosmetic issue.
Many adults therefore choose private mole removal clinics for treatment. For some this is about peace of mind, for others it is purely an aesthetic issue.
Cosmedics Skin Clinics offer mole removal in London and Bristol with qualified and experienced doctors. Moles are removed using the latest surgical techniques including laser mole removal; with techniques designed to minimise scarring and make the procedure entirely painless.
For more information or to book a consultation, please complete the form on this web page or call 020 7386 0464.
