Griffin Hospital is raising skin cancer awareness and helping individuals protect themselves and their loved ones with free facial skin screenings at The Center for Cancer Care, 350 Seymour Ave., Derby, on Thurs., Dec. 15.
Appointments are available between 3-5 p.m. and reservations are required by calling The Center for Cancer Care at 203-732-1260.
Facial skin screenings will be conducted by a registered nurse from Griffin’s Community Outreach to show sun damage and detect abnormalities that could be a sign of potential skin cancer. Oncology Nurse Navigator Catherine Voccia, RN, BSN, OCN, CN-BN, will assist with referrals to a dermatologist if needed.
According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is the most common of all cancers. Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, account for more than 100,000 cases of skin cancer and more than 7,000 cancer deaths annually.
Risk factors for non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancers include:
- Unprotected and/or excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation (sunlight or tanning booths)
- Pale skin (easily sunburned, doesn’t tan much or at all, natural red or blond hair)
- Occupational exposures to coal tar, pitch, creosote, arsenic compounds, or radium
- You or other members of your family have had skin cancers
- Multiple or unusual moles
- Severe sunburns in the past
Skin cancer can be found and treated early by looking for these symptoms:
- Any change on your skin, especially in the size or color of a mole, growth, or spot, or a new growth (even if it has no color)
- Scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or a change in the way a bump or nodule looks
- The spread of pigmentation (color) beyond its border, such as dark coloring that spreads past the edge of a mole or mark
- A change in sensation, such as itchiness, tenderness, or pain
Some symptoms are not as noticeable, so skin cancer screenings are advised. If you have any of these symptoms, call you doctor immediately or visit griffinhealth.org to find a local dermatologist.