The Big See Campaign: Spotting and Stopping Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is a cancer you can actually see although it often goes undetected. That’s because most of us aren’t doing regular skin checks. To help everyone get a handle on this and in honor of May being Skin Cancer Awareness month, the Skin Cancer Foundation launched The Big See campaign. It gives quick tips to spot and stop skin cancer and we’ve got them here for you.

Spot and Stop Skin Cancer

The good news is that if you see skin cancer developing on your skin it’s highly treatable. The key is spotting it in its early stages.

Of course that’s easier said than done. Most people probably don’t know what skin cancer looks like. And frankly I don’t love staring at my naked body in a mirror for a long time. Yup, skin checks have to be done in front of a mirror or with the help of someone else and with your clothes off so you can see all your skin (like the monkey in our photo – you probably were wondering how that photo related to skin cancer, now you know ).

Thankfully The Big See campaign has three easy tips to for spotting skin cancer to make it fast and simple:

1. New – look out for new moles or blemishes on your skin
2. Changing – check to see if any spots on your skin have changed in shape, size, texture, or color
3. Unusual – look for any unusual spots that itch, hurt, crust, or bleed

For guidance on how to perform a skin check, read out post: “Detecting Skin Cancer – Spot It and Stop It”.

Why Should You Care About Skin Cancer?

Now you might be asking do I really need to perform a skin self-exam? Why should I really care? Well unfortunately the stats on skin cancer can be sobering and it can and does affect many people.

Here’s are the tough stats from the Skin Cancer Foundation:

• Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US
• Two people die of skin cancer every hour
• 1 in 5 people develop skin cancer before the age of 70
• Melanoma risk (the deadliest skin cancer) doubles if you’ve had more than 5 sunburns

So get to know your skin and do the check. And the experts can’t stress enough that if detected early, you can be ok.

And of course it goes without saying that one of the best preventions of developing skin cancer is by practicing good sun protection including wearing sunscreen everyday.

Make May Your Skin Month

So make May the month where you get acquainted or reacquainted with your skin. It’s a perfect month to give your skin some love.

For even more healthy and loving skin care tips check out our Suncare Smarts and Education blog series.