Your skin protects you from a lot of diseases, but one it can't protect you from is skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States. About 7,400 deaths were reported in 2002 from skin cancer. There are three types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, which is the most common type of skin cancer and is usually not life-threatening, squamous cell carcinoma, which is like basal cell carcinoma, and melanoma, which can be life-threatening. Skin cancer destroys your skin cells and tissue and can spread to other parts of your body. Once it does this, it's hard to get rid of it.
Skin cancer is usually caused by too many ultra violet rays. That means lying in the tanning bed or under a sunlamp, too many years of exposure to the sun, and intense exposure of the sun to your skin can cause skin cancer. Having a lot of x-rays taken or exposure to radioactive chemicals can also cause skin cancer, but rarely happens. It can not be transmitted from one person to another nor is it contagious.
Skin cancer is at risk for anyone, but people with light-colored eyes, fair skin, light hair, or a family history of skin cancer are at the greatest risk. Other possible risk factors are inability to tan, freckling easily, living close to the equator, being over the age of 40, severe sunburns during childhood, and of course working or playing outside without using protection from the sun. there are many risk factors that could lead to having skin cancer. So, if you do any of these risk factors, how do you know if you have skin cancer? Skin cancer has many symptoms. For basal cell carcinoma, the symptoms are change in a wart or mole, red and irritated patch of skin, sores that hasn't healed in over three weeks, tiny bumps that have apparent red blood vessels around them, or tightening of the skin in a certain spot. For squamous cell carcinoma, the symptoms may include red bumps on a sunburn, thickening of the skin on the lower lip, if you chew tobacco or smoke, red and irritated patch of skin that grows larger, or growing skin that turns into a wart.
