{"id":9962,"date":"2015-01-09T00:07:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T08:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=9962"},"modified":"2015-01-08T11:46:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T19:46:14","slug":"how-to-identify-skin-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/01\/09\/how-to-identify-skin-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to identify skin cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Victoria Taraska (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

On Dec. 11, the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Winnipeg section, held an information session at the Rady Jewish Community Centre about recognizing skin cancer. The talk, part of the section\u2019s Women\u2019s Health Series, was given by Dr. Victoria Taraska, a dermatologist at the Derm Centre.<\/p>\n

Taraska received her doctorate in medicine at the University of Manitoba before doing a fellowship in dermatology at the University of Ottawa. She has been practising in Winnipeg since 1998.<\/p>\n

In her presentation, Taraska gave many examples, including an array of images, to give the approximately 60 lecture-goers a better idea of how to recognize the three main forms of skin cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily, women do find most cancers for themselves or someone in their family, because they listen to what we tell them, are concerned about their health, and do get checked,\u201d said the doctor. \u201cMen don\u2019t fare that well. They don\u2019t do as well. We [women] are the nags in the family, right? We definitely save their lives and our lives, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three main forms of skin cancer Taraska discussed were basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell cancer and melanoma. Although other skin cancers exist, they are rare, she said.<\/p>\n

Every year in Canada, 80,000 skin cancers cases are diagnosed. In the United States each year, there are two to three million. \u201cIt\u2019s a big burden and a lot of health-care dollars, as well,\u201d said Taraska. \u201cA lot of it could be prevented early by screenings and watching your skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taraska went on to say that there are about 6,500 cases of reported melanoma a year, which is a cancerous form doctors \u201cmost like to avoid,\u201d she said. \u201cBasal cell carcinoma isn\u2019t that aggressive and it\u2019s highly curable if diagnosed early.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sun protection is critical in preventing skin cancer, with ultraviolet rays being the most important element to block.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though there are people who are more at risk, anyone can get it,\u201d said Taraska. \u201cBlack people can get it, white people who are fair, blond, blue eyed \u2026 anyone can get skin cancer. Everyone needs to protect themselves from the sun, or even from tanning beds\u2026. If you have a lot of moles, you might be at higher risk. Anyone who\u2019s on immune suppressant medication has a higher risk for skin cancer. Squamous cell cancer is actually the second highest cause of death in transplant patients, with infection being number one.\u201d<\/p>\n

UVA vs. UVB protection<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A UVA warning relates to aging, while a UVB warning relates to burning, explained Taraska. \u201cWhile both are bad and are related to skin cancer, most sun protection products focus on blocking UVB,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in your car and you think you\u2019re safe, you\u2019re not. UVA can go through the windows, though the physicality of the window blocks UVB.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when using sunscreen, we are not always protected, as the level of protection noted on sunscreen products refers to UVB. \u201cThere\u2019s no number for UVA,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Taraska is an avid proponent of sunscreen use, applying more of it and more often then you might think is needed. \u201cThe way we apply a SPF 15 probably ends up being only an eight or a four, because it\u2019s only a 15 if you can see the sunscreen on your body. But, if you\u2019re putting it on properly, a 15 does block 94-96 percent. We never get up to 100 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a 30 or a 50, you have a little play, but if you only buy a 15, you don\u2019t have that. For people who break out from sunscreen, there are sunscreen powders. For those not wanting to use chemical-based sunscreen, they need to understand that the chemical-free products use physical sun blockers \u2013 like zinc and titanium \u2013 and, as such, these creams are meant to stay on the surface of the skin and will be more visible when applied properly (stay white).<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless, applications need to happen every couple of hours when in the sun for an extended period of time. A bottle of sunscreen shouldn\u2019t last more than a week if you\u2019re on a beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

About UV <\/strong><\/h4>\n

UV changes some of the nucleic acids in the cell\u2019s DNA. It can change the nucleic acids of tumor suppressors or tumor stimulators.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your tumor suppressors are insufficient, you\u2019re not going to be able to clean up the damage,\u201d said Taraska. \u201cIf you knock out a couple of the workers, you\u2019ll have a problem healing the skin cancer. We\u2019re always producing skin cancer cells \u2013 actually daily \u2013 but our body usually has checks and balances to get rid of the cancers, to get rid of the duds.\u201d<\/p>\n

There should always be a balance. Some people genetically have deficiency in their suppressors. \u201cWhen you see families that have many cases of skin cancer, they likely have a deficiency of the P53 enzyme,\u201d said Taraska.<\/p>\n

While we can now test for the P53 enzyme, it would be too costly to test everyone. \u201cWe should all be checking ourselves regularly, whether we have the family history or not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While the UV index is a lot lower in the winter, if you\u2019re a dog walker, skier or jogger, you can still get sunburned, so sunscreen is still important. As for getting your fill of Vitamin D during the winter, Taraska believes that it should be taken in via a supplement, noting, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to take 1,000 units of Vitamin D.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detection and treatment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

While basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of cancer, it is also often easily curable. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t really kill or harm anyone who is reasonable,\u201d said Taraska. \u201cThey are slow growing. No one … should die from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signs to watch for include a pink scaly patch, an open sore that will not heal, or a shiny lump or a scar that is new or changing. Although the nose, for example, is a common place to see such signs, they can appear anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those that have gone aggressive or deeper, there is an oral medication that we can use that does very well for patients with more aggressive basal cell carcinoma,\u201d said Taraska.<\/p>\n

Squamous is more common in connection to being sun exposed, but again, it can happen anywhere. \u201cTransplant patients are the highest risk,\u201d noted Taraska, \u201cbut, if it\u2019s caught early, it can be treated with cream, scraped off by a doctor or cut out in surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melanoma is more serious. \u201cWe\u2019re not cavalier with these melanomas,\u201d said Taraska. \u201cWe like things to be done quickly. A normal mole is nice, round and even. If you divide a mole into quarters, each quarter should look roughly the same. If it doesn\u2019t, then we worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s shaped like a country with irregular borders, that\u2019s when you want to see a doctor, or if the mole has more than one color\u2026. They are usually really flat. They will grow within the skin first, spread along the surface first. Bigger than the head of a pencil eraser is a sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe risk of getting melanoma is about 0.08 percent, so it\u2019s fairly low in the population and 90 percent are curable (mostly from early detection).\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Victoria Taraska (photo by Rebeca Kuropatwa) On Dec. 11, the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, Winnipeg section, held an information session at the Rady Jewish Community Centre about recognizing skin cancer. The talk, part of the section\u2019s Women\u2019s Health Series, was given by Dr. Victoria Taraska, a dermatologist at the Derm Centre. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2864,2866,2867,2863,2865],"class_list":["post-9962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-health","tag-national-council-of-jewish-women-of-canada","tag-ncjw-winnipeg","tag-skin-cancer","tag-victoria-taraska"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}