There is a harmful adversary above the beautiful beaches of Malibu. The sun, whose warm rays provide the ideal climate for beachgoers, also serves as the leading cause of the most common form of cancer–skin cancer–according to the Skin Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
Exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays has been found by researchers to play a direct part in the formation of skin cancer. Tanning, a reaction of the skin to UV rays, which increases the activity and number of melanocytes (cells that produce the pigment melanin), is often an objective of beachgoers.
“It [a tan] makes you look skinnier,” said 16-year-old Alex Salehi, who lives in Agoura but regularly comes to Zuma Beach with her friends during the summer with an aim to obtain a decent tan. “I think it looks really healthy. If I’m white I feel fat.”
During the school year, Salehi said she makes trips to a local tanning salon once a week to maintain a year-round bronze tint to her skin. While at Zuma Beach, Salehi uses tanning oil with sun protection factor (SPF) 4.
Whether it’s from natural sunlight or tanning salons, UV radiation can damage the DNA in skin cells, potentially leading to skin cancer.
Nonmelanoma (usually basal and squamous cell skin cancer) and malignant melanoma skin cancer are the two main types of the disease. Though both are treatable if caught in the early stages, melanoma skin cancer can be fatal and is responsible for 79 percent of skin cancer deaths, accounting for 7,800 expected deaths across the nation during 2001, according to the American Cancer Society.
Nonmelanoma skin cancer is more common, with approximately 1.3 million reported cases each year. Nonmelanoma can come in the form of a spot or a bump that gradually enlarges over a period of a couple months. Although most moles are innocuous, some moles can develop into melanoma skin cancer, according to Dermatologist James H. Sternberg, whose office is located at Civic Center Way in Malibu. He said a change in color, uneven borders or the spreading of moles can all be possible signs of cancer.
Sternberg emphasized the importance of detection with melanoma. The American Cancer Society advises people between the ages of 20 and 40 to get a cancer-related checkup every three years, and one every year for those over 40. The organization also recommends checking one’s own body once a month for abnormalities.
Approximately 30 percent of Sternberg’s patients have sun damage. He regularly performs skin biopsies, taking a piece of tissue from the affected area. Then he performs surgical procedures as necessary.
Sternberg said that the probability of getting skin cancer “depends on the skin type and the family history.” According to the American Cancer Society, Caucasians are 20 times more prone to getting skin cancer than African Americans, especially if they have fair skin, freckles, or burn easily. Comparatively, men are much more susceptible to skin cancer, being twice as likely as women to contract basal cell cancer and three times more likely to contract squamous cell cancers, which are the most common forms of nonmelanoma skin cancers.
Along with the American Cancer Society, the Skin Cancer Foundation and the American Academy of Dermatology advocate wearing long-sleeve clothing, hats and sunglasses. However, sunscreen with at least SPF 15 remains the most effective protection. Sunscreen, according to these organizations, should be applied every two hours to all parts of the body that are exposed to the sun, and re-applied after swimming or perspiring. Sunscreen application is especially stressed for children and young adults, because UV radiation that one is exposed to as a child might not develop into cancer for many years, or even decades. They also advise against excessive exposure to the sun from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., when the sun is at its strongest.
For this disease, protection and detection are the key. So while the time may be at hand for sun bathing and acquiring that long-awaited tan, cancer organizations urge you not to neglect your long-term health during the summer season.