How to Protect Our Skin From UV Radiation to Prevent the Melanoma Skin Cancer

We should learn to protect our skin conscientiously from ultraviolet radiation because an excessive sun exposure can increase the risk of getting melanoma. To protect ourselves from burning, reducing the risk of melanoma skin cancer or other skin diseases, we should use appropriate clothing, sunscreens and a gradual and responsible exposure to the sun. A natural tan can also protect us from UV light.

Use of Clothing

In the hours of the day when solar radiation is very high, we have to use protective clothing, glasses, hats, etc., because applying only sunscreen products on the skin may not protect us sufficiently.
The clothing not only acts as a barrier against UV rays, but often allows a better heat combating thanks to the thin layer of air that provides an insulation between the garment and the skin.
However, factors like the moisture, the clothes color, the clothes material, influence the transmission of UV radiation through the tissue.

A dry suit, for example, has a greater protective effect than a wet one. Light-colored clothes are known to absorb ultraviolet rays to a lesser degree than dark ones. Light colored clothes on the other hand, have a greater effect against infrared rays. Cotton has a lower protective factor (10) than silk (160) and blue jeans (1500).

These days, in the market are available some clothes with a calculated protective factor, but it can be sufficient to choose light-colored and tightly-woven ones for a greater protection effect.

Sunscreens and Sunblocks

The most commonly used remedy for not giving up the pleasure of a normal tan, are without doubt sunscreens and sunblocks. Nevertheless, no sunscreen product is able to provide the protection that can be achieved by using suitable clothing or avoiding sunlight exposure at certain hours of the day. The first sunscreens were used to protect the skin only from UVB rays because in the past UVA rays were thought to be safe. These days, modern sunscreens contain some shielding and filtering substances that protect from both UVA and UVB radiation.

Natural Tan

The tan is stimulated by UVB rays. It absorbs more than 70 percent of UV radiation, but has a lesser effect with each passing year. However, the tan can also have negative effects. In fact, when it's intense, it can eliminate the alarm signal represented by the burning sensation, allowing the individual to be exposed to sunlight for longer periods. He will not burn, but after several years, the effects of the chronic exposure to UV rays will appear. Therefore, protection should also be performed in the presence of a natural tan.

If you want more information about skin diseases such as the melanoma skin cancer, in my website (themelanomaskincancer.com) you'll find pictures of melanoma, symptoms, risk factors, treatment of melanoma, etc.

Article Author: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Antonio_Cima

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Rheumatoid Arthritis Drug For Treating Melanoma Skin Cancer

An arthritis drug called leflunomide could now be used for inhibiting the growth of malignant melanoma. This was discovered by a research of the University of East Anglia and Children’s Hospital Boston and promises an effective new treatment for one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.

Reporting in the March 24 edition of the journal Nature, the researchers found that leflunomide, a drug commonly used for treating rheumatoid arthritis, also inhibits the growth of malignant melanoma.

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and its incidence is increasing. More than 10,000 patients in the UK are diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer each year. This tumor can be removed with surgery without problems if caught early, but the survival rates for patients whose tumour is already spreading are very low. Around 2000 people a year in the UK die from malignant melanoma because the cancer has returned after being removed surgically.

University of East Anglia scientists Dr Grant Wheeler and Dr Matt Tomlinson conducted a rigorous screen of thousands of compounds, looking for those that affect the development of pigment cells in tadpoles. They identified a number of compounds that affected pigment cell development and have now shown with their US collaborators at Children’s Hospital Boston that leflunomide significantly restricts tumour growth in mouse models.

Combining leflunomide with PLX4720, a new experimental melanoma drug, the scientists found that the effect was even more powerful and this almost blocked the tumour growth completely.

The next stage is for clinical trials to be conducted into the use of leflunomide to fight melanoma. This process should be faster than usual and a new treatment for melanoma could be available within about five years because leflunomide is already licensed to treat arthritis.

“This is a really exciting discovery, making use of an existing drug specifically to target melanoma,” said Dr Grant Wheeler, of UEA’s School of Biological Sciences.

Source: insciences.org

Amelanotic Melanoma Overview

Amelanotic melanoma is a term that indicates any type of melanoma skin cancer that lacks pigmentation. These skin cancers represent a large part of melanomas that can not be diagnosed easily because they don’t have defined characteristics.
The amelanotic melanoma can not be identified by the traditional pattern analysis but requires a screening strategy including special techniques and dermoscopic criteria for the characterization of several non-pigmented skin lesions.

The predictive aspects of this type of melanoma skin cancer include the presence of a bluish-white veil, several gray-blue points, depigmentation with irregular edges, wound type depigmentation, and brown dots or globules irregularly distributed.
The face and feet are the parts of the body where the diagnosis of this type of melanoma is the most underestimated.

Source: http://themelanomaskincancer.com/amelanotic-melanoma-description-and-pictures/

Overview, Causes and Types of the Melanoma Skin Cancer

Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer that generates from the melanocytes. The melanocytes are cells of the skin that produce the dark pigment, melanin. The name of this cancer, as you may have guessed, comes from these cells.

There are several new cases of malignant melanoma occurring in the world each year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of new cases diagnosed each year is around 160,000 and the deaths connected to the melanoma tumor are about 48,000.

The melanoma skin cancer these days has a frequency that is increasing in the normal population. It's incidence is higher in females than in males. The ages that are affected by this skin tumor vary from 35 to 65 years. Melanoma occurs rarely within 30 years.

This tumor can be mostly found in caucasian people with fair skin that live in sunny climates. It is more common in Australia, New Zealand, North Europe and North America.

There are four main types of melanoma:

• Lentigo Maligna Melanoma;

• Nodular Melanoma;

• Superficial Spreading Melanoma;

• Acral Lentiginous Melanoma;

The major risk factors of the melanoma skin cancer are:

• an excessive exposure to sunlight;

• excessive use of the UV (ultraviolet) lamps;

• having a family history of melanoma cancer;

• light skin;

• the presence of previous skin lesions, nevi or moles;

• using oral contraceptives.

Melanoma has some early symptoms that can be recognized if paid attention to the changes of shape, color or size of existing moles or nevi, or the appearance of new lesions on the skin. These symptoms are summarized by the ABCDE rule:

• Asymmetry of the skin lesion;

• Borders: the lesion has irregular borders;

• Color: melanomas have multiple colors;

• Diameter: the lesion's diameter is usually greater than 6 mm;

• Enlarging: over time the lesion or nevus enlarges.

Visual diagnosis is the method most commonly used even by professionals for detecting possible melanoma tumors. Therefore, the ABCDE rule is a very important rule that should be learned by everyone for facing the risk of melanoma. One should pay attention to suspicious moles, lesions or nevi and report them as soon as possible to a specialized doctor.