Melanoma awareness month in May
May is skin cancer & melanoma awareness month all around the world. So grab your sunscreen and your notepad for some enlightening facts!
We live in the “content overload” era, and you may have noticed that you receive lots of messages every day through social media and media in general. This could be advertisement, partnerships, news, notifications, requests, advice… The melanoma & skin cancer awareness month is here to make sure that amongst all this content you see, you remember to take care of yourself and your loved ones. Prevention is key when it comes to melanoma, so you’ll see why awareness matters so much.
Using sunscreen is good to slow down the ageing process of the skin, and most importantly it can prevent skin cancer. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology states that regular sunscreen use can help prevent especially melanoma. It is said that daily use of sunscreen with SPF 15 or more can help you reduce the risk of melanoma skin cancer by 50%. You can see now the importance of prevention and why the melanoma awareness month exists!
So find yourself a sunscreen brand that suits your needs, and get the ball rolling.
Prevention is key also in the sense that an early melanoma diagnosis makes the survival rate way higher, about 99% higher. Survival rates decrease significantly if the cancer is caught late. For this reason, you should schedule an appointment with a dermatologist at least once a year, and talk about this around you.
Now that you know how key prevention is, you can take action to help others know this as well. Ask your loved ones if they have scheduled an appointment with their dermatologist lately. You could also be an advocate for protected skin all year long through sunscreen, hat, sunglasses and the concept that your health is more important than tanning. It is also recommended to never use sunbeds as it truly raises the possibility of getting skin cancer, and this is a piece of information you can broadly share around you.
You could speak directly to family and friends about this, and don’t hesitate to spread the word as well on social media! A picture of yourself being protected from the sun, exercising or enjoying outdoors safely, or sharing your morning routine that includes sunscreen, are great ways to spread awareness on melanoma skin cancer.