News

Beebe To Offer Free Skin Cancer Screenings

04/18/05

Beebe Medical Center will offer the community free skin cancer screening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on May 4 and May 12 at the Tunnell Cancer Center at the main campus of the medical center on Savannah Road in Lewes.

The screenings are taking place during Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Beebe physicians will do the screenings by appointment only. To make an appointment, call (302) 645-3100, ext. 4171.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States. Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays appears to be the most important environmental factor in the cause of the cancer. The CDC also warns against the use of sun lamps and tanning beds, which can have the same damaging effect as the sun itself.

While melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is often fatal, early detection and treatment of most forms of skin cancer can be successful.

The CDC strongly advises the use of sunscreens, and to remember that children are the most vulnerable and should be protected from the sun with waterproof sunscreen, applied liberally and often, and to be encouraged to stay in the shade whenever possible. Children under the age of six months are too young to be protected by sunscreens and should not be placed in direct sunlight.

Prevention also includes regularly checking one's skin for suspicious moles that change in shape, or patches that are scaly, oozing, bleeding or lumpy. Skin cancer does not necessarily have to be in an area that has been exposed to the sun.