Take care of your skin
January is marked on the health calendar as skin cancer awareness month, which is a time set aside by the Department of Health to educate locals about the condition.
According to the Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson, Steve Mabona, skin cancer occurs when the skin cells start growing abnormally, causing cancerous growth, and the main cause of this cancer is exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
People who are more at risk/likely to develop skin cancer are those who have had a lot of sun exposure, particularly people with a fair complexion.
Mabona explains some of the symptoms which include:
- The tumours begin as very small, shiny, raised growths on the skin,
- The basal cell carcinomas may ulcerate or form scab in the centre,
- The border of the cancer sometimes takes on a pearly white appearance,
- The cancer may alternately bleed and form a scab and heal, leading a person to think that it is a sore rather than a cancer.
He adds that a doctor may prescribe creams to treat the cancer such as fluorouracil and, in addition, a doctor can usually remove all the cancer by scraping and burning it with an electric needle or by cutting it out.
Mabona advises that people take better care of their skin by staying away from sun rays, wearing protective clothing and by applying sun screen creams with a high sun protection factor.
