As much as we are currently longing for warming rays of the sun, excessive UV radiation has its dangers. While light skin cancer can usually be removed in good time with a little care, black skin cancer, known as melanoma, is much more insidious.
In contrast to the mostly conspicuous and proliferating age warts, the dangerous melanoma practically always begins as a small dark spot that is usually not even noticeable. Especially not if it occurs in unreasonable places such as the back or the soles of the feet. But it is precisely at this early stage, when it has not yet penetrated into the deeper layers of the skin, that it must be unmasked and removed quickly, since the melanoma tends to spread early – i.e. to form metastases.
I advise partners to regularly and consciously look at each other’s skin and to consult a dermatologist once a year, who will examine the skin with his expert eye.
Although successes have been achieved in the past few years in the treatment of a melanoma that has already metastasized, it is nevertheless of the utmost importance to defuse this initially inconspicuous and so dangerous tumor by means of a simple and hardly stressful surgical removal.
I would also like to advise children to protect themselves from too much sun, especially at lunchtime. Because five sunburns in childhood double the risk of developing melanoma later. The skin has an elephant memory and never forgets a single ray.
It is hoped that your friend can be cured with the modern treatment methods. Please take care of your skin yourself and protect yourself and your children from sunburn.
Do you have questions about health?
Write to OÖN doctor Johannes Neuhofer (dermatologist), who oversees this column with a team of doctors: Clemens Steinwender (cardiologist), Reinhold Függer (surgeon), Rainer Schöfl (gastroenterologist), Josef Hochreiter (orthopaedist), Werner Schöny (psychiatrist). E-mail: doktor@nachrichten.at
Source: Nachrichten
