4/29/03 News Release

PRINT MEDIA CONTACT: Michelle Brandt, (650) 723-0272 ()

BROADCAST MEDIA CONTACT: Neale Mulligan, (650) 724-2454 ()

STANFORD, Calif. ­ It's time to learn whether that funny-looking mole you've wondered about is something more serious than a simple blemish. Stanford University Medical Center's dermatology department is offering free skin cancer screening Saturday, May 10 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Stanford Health Library in the Stanford Shopping Center (next to Bloomingdale's facing El Camino Real). Dermatologists will be on hand to check suspicious-looking marks that may be cancerous. The screening is free and open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis.

Melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, generally starts out as an irregularly shaped blemish about the size of a pencil eraser. It may be various shades of tan and black, red, white or blue and may bleed or itch. Anyone can get melanoma, but it is much more common in light-skinned people, said dermatologist Susan Swetter, MD, director of the Pigmented Lesion and Cutaneous Melanoma Clinic at Stanford.

People who were exposed to a lot of sun as a child or teenager are at higher risk, as are those who have many moles, have a close relative with melanoma or have been diagnosed with melanoma in the past. Swetter, assistant professor of dermatology at the School of Medicine, urged people with those risk factors to come to the screening because they have a greater chance of developing skin cancer. The disease can usually be successfully treated if it is identified early, she added.

Most melanomas are on the upper back, torso, lower legs, and head and neck, but they can appear anywhere on the body. This year, about 91,900 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed and 7,600 people are expected to die from the disease. Melanoma is the fifth-most common cancer in men and the seventh-most common in women. It is more common than any other cancer among women in their late 20s, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

One cause of melanoma is excessive exposure to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, which zap the skin cells' DNA. "It is estimated that people get up to 80 percent of their sun damage by the age of 20, and this is likely the most crucial period for melanoma prevention efforts," said Swetter.

Most skin cancers, Swetter said, could be prevented by staying out of the sun, using sunscreen and wearing clothing that doesn't let sunlight hit your skin. She recommends that everyone apply sunscreen with a sun-protection factor of 15 or higher before going outdoors. People should reapply sunscreen more frequently when swimming or exercising in the sun, she added.

"The biggest problems we run into are insufficient application of sunscreen, failure to reapply after swimming or sweating, and the lack of sun-protective clothing, hats and eyeglasses," Swetter said. She also recommends avoiding the sun altogether between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when its rays are the strongest.

For more information on the cancer-screening event, please call the Stanford Health Library at (650) 725-8400.

###

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation’s top 10 medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://mednews.stanford.edu. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. For information about all three, please visit http://stanfordmedicine.org/about/news.html.