‘PALE is the NEW TAN’
Doctor leads the fight against sun tanning
Bradenton, Fla. — There’s a framed picture in Dr. Terrence Hopkins’ waiting room at his Manatee Dermatology practice that shows a little girl in a bikini on a beach with a jarring combination of words printed next to it.
The words: “Seashells. Driftwood. Skin cancer.” Underneath that is the sentence: “It’s amazing what kids pick up at the beach.”
Hopkins is not hesitant to talk about its message to parents.
“We want kids not to come down with skin cancer,” Hopkins said. “The more they protect themselves from early on, the better are the chances. What I tell parents these days is that protective clothing is the best thing they can do for their little ones. Little sun hats. Little protective clothing. Things like rash guard outfits like the surfers would wear are ideal. No one is born with freckles. They all develop freckles over time. Skin cancers form the same way. All that sunlight that accumulates over a lifetime from continued sun exposure, that’s what gives you damage to your DNA and that’s what gives you skin cancer.”
“Pale is the new tan,” Hopkins added. “Being tan is out. That’s what we tell people.”
Hopkins and his staff, including physician assistant Christa Lynn Hall, see about 50 patients a day, where his practice has grown since opening in 1998.
Using precise instruments like a dermatoscope, Hopkins is able to diagnose approximately 50 cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, yearly as well as hundreds of pre-cancerous moles and spots, basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas.
“If you catch them early, they are all curable,” Hopkins said.
“Bob Marley, the great Jamaican reggae singer, had melanoma on his toe and did not get it treated,” Hopkins added. “He died from it. But with treatment earlier he potentially could have been saved.”
While the sun’s rays are often the main culprit, Hopkins acknowledges that genetics also play an important role.
Hopkins said last week that people living in Bradenton, all of Florida and all of the sunbelt states must take precautions because the strength of the sun’s rays in those areas are strong and increasing.
The American Cancer Society ranks California, Florida and New York as the highest producers of skin cancer and it estimates there will be 162,000 new cases of skin cancer in the United States in 2017.
“I think the biggest thing about Bradenton is that we have an elderly population,” Hopkins said. “Whenever you have an elderly population you have more tendency toward skin cancer. The climate is extremely hot. Combine a hot climate with a lot of elderly people who have fair skin that makes for an increase in the incidence of skin cancer, period and I think that’s what really makes Bradenton a hotbed.” The different skin cancers The most common form of skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma, which can be connected to years at the beach or outside without covering, Hopkins said. Untreated, basal cell carcinoma, which forms in the basal or bottom layer of the epidermis, grows locally and forms wounds that do not heal. But it can easily be treated, Hopkins
said.
Squamous cell carcinoma, which forms in the cells in the outer layer of the skin, is the second most common type of skin cancer and is also very much connected to sun exposure. It can be treated with minor surgery and/or medication, Hopkins said.
Melanoma, which often develops in a mole or inside a new dark spot, is also related to sun exposure and is the one that can progress to the lymph nodes and the other organs of the body, Hopkins said.
“It’s the most dangerous form of cancer that we treat,” Hopkins said.
Skin cancer survival starts with self-exam
Tourists and residents in Florida can avoid the possible fatal outcomes from skin cancer with a game plan, said Dr. Nikhil Khushalani, one of the top cancer doctors at Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center, which is the National Cancer Institute’s only designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Florida.
“Good screening and a daily prevention regime works,” Khushalani said. “We recommend regular selfexaminations, which can be done with the ABCDE formula.”
The ABCDE formula for selfexamination involves noticing the shape, border, color and diameter of moles and spots.
As for the “daily prevention regime” that Khushalani mentioned, it involves using sun screen, hats and long sleeve clothing during the sun’s most dangerous periods of the day, between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
“We always say a sun screen with a sun protection factor, also known as SPF, of 30 is strong enough,” Khushalani said. “There is no data to show that higher is better.”
The sun screen should be reapplied every one and a half to two hours or after a person goes into the water, Khushalani said.
“We now have UV blocking clothing as well that is helpful, especially for people who may not tolerate certain sun screen containing cosmetics,” Khushalani said.
Also, the doctor recommends use of a quality sunglasses with UV protection in the lenses which can help people prone to melanoma of the eye.
“Sunglasses also help prevent basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma,” Hopkins said.
“This preventative methodology is especially important for high risk folks,” Khushalani said, speaking of people who are light skinned and don’t have as much melanin pigment in their skin that can give at least some protection from the sun’s rays.