Medical professionals recommend that you get to know your own skin and check your skin regularly. If you notice that something is changing, or it appears to be a different colour, starts to bleed and doesn't heal properly, you should go and see your GP or dermatologist as soon as possible.
For the untrained eye, a melanoma or skin cancer can be very difficult and sometimes impossible to spot. This is the reason why you should also visit your GP or dermatologist once a year for a skin check.
Early detection of skin cancers is very important, especially for melanoma, as the survival rate is much greater when caught early. Research shows that it can sometimes be as little as a matter of months between when melanoma is first detected to the point where it metastasises and becomes a lot more difficult to treat.
More than 11,500 Australians are diagnosed with melanoma each year and 434,000 with non-melanoma skin cancers. 2,000 of them will die annually, more than killed in road accidents. The real tragedy is that these skin cancer deaths are preventable in most cases.
Dr. Craig Sinclair "wants to reinforce the importance of prevention. It makes the world of difference if you can detect skin cancer early."
He continues by saying "My best advice is to continue to choose sun protection whenever there is an ultraviolet (UV) index greater than 3."
"But once again, just because it's getting cooler, doesn't mean you through sun protection out the window. Don't be fooled by temperature, it's not related to UV." Dr. Sinclair is Chair of the Skin Cancer Committee for Cancer Council Australia.
The ABCDE has been created to help you define what to look out for:
The Solbari team
This blog post is for information purpose only, always consult your medical professional.