the years to come. “There is usually a 20- to 30-year latency period from the time of exposure to the time you develop skin cancer,” she explains. “So we probably won’t see a notice- able increase among those who re- cently served in the Middle East for another few years.” According to Orengo, the VA is at- tacking skin cancer on two fronts: by improving awareness of the risk fac- tors associated with the disease and by educating retired and active duty servicemembers about the signs of skin cancer so it can be treated early. “The word to remember is change,”
Orengo says. “Any spot or mole that is bleeding, itching, turning red, or turn- ing darker in color needs to be seen by a physician. People often don’t do anything because they have heard that skin cancer won’t kill you, but
IS IT CANCER?
Self-examination is one of the most effective tools in the fight against skin cancer. But is that spot on your shoulder skin cancer or just a simple mole? Here’s an identification guide from the American Cancer Society: • Basal-cell carcinomas often look like flat, firm, pale areas or small, raised, pink or red, shiny, waxy areas that might bleed after a minor injury. They might have one or more abnormal blood vessels and/or blue, brown, or black areas. • Squamous-cell carcinomas often look like growing lumps, sometimes with a rough, scaly, or crusted surface. They also might be slow-growing flat reddish patches on the skin. • Melanomas can be recognized by their asymmetry; irregular or ragged borders; odd coloring, sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue; and size (larger than 6 millimeters across, about the size of a pencil eraser). However, melanomas sometimes can be smaller. According to the American Cancer Society, the most important warning sign for melanoma is a new spot on the skin or a spot that is changing in size, shape, or color.
66 MILITARY OFFICER JUNE 2012
for melanoma especially, your only chance of survival is to catch it early. It’s a very bad skin cancer. I’ve had melanoma patients die within three weeks of their diagnoses. This is one of those things where procrastination is not going to help you.”
Detection and diagnosis Early detection provides the best chance for a positive outcome. Duvic recommends performing a regular self-examination, especially if you get a lot of sun exposure, and seeing a dermatologist promptly if you find anything unusual. “Not everyone gets a complete
skin exam, so sometimes it’s a spouse who finds something,” Duvic notes. “It is said that there is a big jump in the incidence of melanoma in the spring when people trying on bath-
ing suits see something on their backs or other parts of the body.” Since 1985, the American Acad-
emy of Dermatology has partnered with dermatologists across the U.S. to provide free skin cancer screen- ings. Visit
www.aad.org for clinic dates and locations. Recent advances in the detection and diagnosis of skin cancer include total body photography, which com- monly is used among high-risk patients to provide a baseline, and dermascopy, a technique that employs polarized light to examine a suspi- cious lesion in greater detail. Equally promising, notes Wang, is a technique known as confocal laser microscopy, which currently is used in some re- search institutions and private clinics. The technique’s extraordinarily high resolution allows dermatologists to
Basal-cell carcinomas
Squamous-cell carcinomas
Melanomas
PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT, LESTER V. BERGMAN/CORBIS; BIOPHOTO ASSOCIATES/ GETTY IMAGES; DR. KENNETH GREER/VISUALS UNLIMITED/CORBIS; DR. KENNETH GREER/ VISUALS UNLIMITED/GETTY IMAGES; BIOPHOTO ASSOCIATES/GETTY IMAGES; CORBIS
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