That's Fit

A message to Mr. Clean, Daddy Warbucks, Dr. Evil, and Howie Mandell: Scalp and neck melanoma were recently found to be twice as deadly as skin cancer on other parts of the body.

A study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine examined of 51,704 patients who diagnosed with skin cancer between 1992 and 2003. Of these patients, 43 percent had melanoma on arms or leg, 34 percent on their trunk, 12 percent on their ears or face, 6 percent on their scalp and/or neck, and 4 percent on other parts of their body. And though only 6 percent of patients had skin lesions on their scalp and/or neck, they accounted for 10 percent of all melanoma death cases.

While being bald certainly doesn't help, it's not only those with sparsely populated pates who are at risk. Even with a reasonably full coif, the sun can still penetrate to the scalp. And, unless you pop your collar like a 19-year-old frat guy, your neck is almost always exposed. Therefore, try to limit your exposure to direct sunlight and be sure to apply and reapply sunscreen throughout the day.

During the summer, my son goes to day camp . It's an awesome camp -- very structured, very active, and he always comes home with stories of the fun things he did that day. Last Thursday they went on a field trip to the beach. My son came home prickly and hot from a sunburn. (They applied sunscreen on all the kids when they got to the beach, but never reapplied throughout the day. I bet there were a lot of sunburned kids that day!)

But what exactly happens to your skin when you get burned? After exposure to the sun, your capillaries dilate, causing the skin to appear pink. Then, skin cells release a chemical that triggers inflammation. Within 12 hours, skin cells begin to die and the inflammation reddens. A tan forms when your skin cells release a pigment to help block your skin from UV rays. (And, no, you shouldn't consider a tan "protection" from the sun. Burn or tan, it all boils down to one thing -- skin damage.)

So take steps to protect your skin from the sun. If you do get burned, Bethany has some tips.

An experimental cancer treatment has proved successful for one man. The patient had advanced skin cancer which had spread to his lungs and a lymph node. Previously, the cancer hadn't responded to other treatments. So what was this experimental treatment? Well, essentially the patient healed himself.

In the study, patients' t-cells (white blood cells which promote immunity) were harvested and multiplied before being re-administered to the patient. After treatment, the patient went in to complete remission and remained in remission for two years.

Other patients in the study, who received smaller or greater amounts of cloned t-cells, either had no response to the treatment or only a limited response. Doctors aren't yet sure what variable caused this particular patient to respond so favorably. While further research is needed, this limited success gives doctors hope that they are heading in the right direction.

The other day, I was outside chatting with my neighbor. She pulled up the cuff of her pants to show me a bandage where she had just had a squamous cell carcinoma removed. That's right ... cancer. Even though it was caught very early and the doctor was able to remove all traces of it, it's still shocking to hear that someone you care about had any form of cancer.

My neighbor went on to tell me that she thought it was a spider bite that just wasn't healing. She was self-treating it and didn't think much of it. Her adult daughter expressed concern and brought her mom to the doctor. Thank goodness she did.

It's important for all of us to recognize the signs of skin cancer. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month -- a good time to learn about the different types of skin cancer. The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. If you have moles, check the shape and size of them regularly.

It may be a bit premature to start talking about sun safety, but it will be summer before we know it. Well, that's not entirely true -- the calendar is a pretty good indicator of when summer is here, so we'll be quite aware. Oh yeah, plus the temperature will jump up to the 80's and 90's (maybe even higher, depending on where you call home), so I think it's safe to say that summer will arrive just when we expected it to.

With that being the case, part of being prepared for the solstice is knowing how to protect yourself against the elevated risk of skin cancer during this time of year.

Start by limiting your exposure to only 15 to 20 minutes of direct sunlight. This doesn't mean that you have to be a vampire, waiting until dark to leave your house because you've already been outside for 20 minutes. What it does mean is that you would do well to not fall asleep while lying on your beach blanket. Next, be sure to drink plenty of water. It will help prevent dehydration and also protects the skin. You may also want to drink some coffee, since caffeine was shown in laboratory studies to reduce the risk of UV-induced skin cancer in mice. And lastly, don't forget that sunscreen -- as effective as it seemingly is -- does not last forever. A good sized glob of SPF15 will only last about 30 minutes, at which point you should apply more and/or head for some shade.

If you slip a shiny lip gloss or lipstick in your purse, don't forget a tube of lip balm with a SPF factor of 30. According to this article in HealthDay, the move could lower your risk of skin cancer.

Beyond an admiring gaze, those pretty, shiny lips may be attracting negative attention -- ultraviolet rays from the sun -- which could increase your risk for skin cancer. While many of us have wisely stopped slathering baby oil on our bodies before cooking in the sun, we're still glossing our lips. A recent study revealed less than 25 percent of Americans apply sun protection on their smackers.

Luckily, you can keep the shine with a simple precautionary step. Apply a SPF30 lip balm underneath the pretty, shiny stuff. Reapply often. I don't know about you, but this is my low-supply season for SPF30 lip balm. I really have to scrounge around to find a tube. Next time you're at the pharmacy, pick up a three pack of SPF30 lip balm before heading to the lipstick aisle. Scatter them where you'll reach for them most -- in your car, in your purse, in your office desk. Set yourself up for beautiful, healthy lips this summer!

When it comes to cancer, the general rule is this: If you're under 40, you're risk of developing it is minimal. But there's a certain type of cancer that you're more likely to develop if you're under 35--Malignant melanoma. Yep, skin cancer.

According to this article from the Daily Mail, people under 35 who use tanning beds are 75% more likely to develop skin cancer than everyone else. 75%! Those are some frightening odds. Don't get me wrong -- tanning any time in life is dangerous, but it appears that young skin is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. And you know what else? Tanning kills. So if you're still heading to the tanning salon, I just have one question for you: Are you nuts?

It seems pretty obvious that people who live in areas with high UV exposure have higher rates of skin cancer. Researchers have known for years that people who live their lives in the South are at a greater risk than those in the North.

But a recent study discovered something interesting. While rates of squamous cell skin cancer are definitely affected by geography, basal cell carcinoma is only moderately affected. Interestingly, the risk of melanoma is the same no matter where you live.

It may be that some skin cancers have a stronger genetic component than others, but that theory has not been tested. It's important to note, too, that this study involved women only. Men may be affected differently. Regardless, the American Cancer Society encourages everyone who plans to spend time in the sun to:

• Slip on a shirt.
• Slop on the sunscreen.
• Slap on a hat.

This will protect your skin from the sun, no matter where you live.

As fabulous as we at That's Fit think this blog is, the truth is there are hundreds of wonderful blogs on healthy living to be seen all over the blogosphere. So in this feature, Fit Links, we'll introduce you to some that have caught our eye.

Here at That's Fit, we write about health every day. But health and fitness don't happen in a vacuum; they are a very real part of every day life. So for today's Fit Links, I thought I'd go knocking on doors in the Weblogs, Inc. neighborhood and see what the other Lifestyle blogs were up to:

Marissa at Slashfood talks about getting more olive oil in your diet.
Susan at Aisledash discusses the dangers of crash dieting before your wedding day.
Gary at DIY Life tells us how to avoid cold and flu, necessary advice this time of year!
Heather of Parent Dish writes about her experience with skin cancer and her children's reaction to it.
Over at Styledash, Whit gives us tips on how to get our kids to wash their hands (properly).
Laura at Luxist shows us Chanel's new blinged-out bicycle.
Josh at Green Daily tells us how to clean up our indoor air quality.
Neil at Gadling warns us that, due to global warming, ski resorts may someday be a thing of the past.

There's lots of good reading in our neighborhood, that's for sure!

On my own with two children most hours of the day, I rarely make appointments at my hair salon. Instead, I have this really bad habit of passing the salon at the mall that accepts walk-ins and thinking, "Hey! Maybe I should get my haircut!" It's led to more than one bad haircut, but if nothing else, it's an adventure.

We all have our beauty blunders, and as this article from Self magazine points out, even pros have been known to make mistakes. Too much Botox, over-processed hair, ignoring skin cancer warning signs -- these women may have more knowledge and access to better beauty products, but they still make many of the same mistakes you and I do. It's an enlightening read and a reminder to us all that beauty shouldn't be about reinventing ourselves, but instead about enhancing the beautiful features we already have.

What's your worst beauty blunder?

We wash it, condition it, style it, sometimes hide it under a hat. We twirl it, lose it, color it, and cut it in all manners of styles and shapes. It's our hair and sometimes it can make or break our day, but did you know it can also tell us a lot about the state of our health?

This article has a lot of interesting facts about hair and what hair health can say about a person. In fact, research about how hair grays has led to some interesting findings about melanoma. When a hair grays, it's because stem cells in the hair follicle die off and cells that color hair get confused and put the pigment in the wrong places. In melanoma, the opposite takes place and these same cells grow out of control. Researchers are looking into ways to create drugs that mimic the dying off that happens with graying hair in hopes that it may "turn off" quickly growing cancer cells.

Read more interesting facts about that hair that lives on the top of your head here.

At 29-years-old, Zita Farrelly died of skin cancer. But she wasn't at the beach 6 times a week, or outside all summer without ever using sunblock. Ms. Farrely's cancer was due entirely to her excessive use of tanning beds.

From age 14 to 21, the mother of two used sunbeds twice a day -- hundreds and hundreds of times -- then stopped, when she learned of the negative impact tanning could have on her health. It was already too late, however, as last year she found a mole on her leg, which was later diagnosed as melanoma.

Her family is now working to warn others of the dangers of using sunbeds -- hoping to prevent similar tragedies.

It's all too easy to lose track of time when having fun in the sun during this time of year -- the time flies and before you know it you've burnt yourself to a crisp and not only are you suffering for days afterwards but there's the worry of what permanent long-term damage you've done to yourself in the way of wrinkles and risk for skin cancer. But becoming that neurotic person that re-applies sunscreen every 5 minutes and watches the clock all day is no fun either, so here's a good solution: get a watch that will automatically notify you when you need to reapply sunblock or get out of the sun -- that way you can relax and have fun and forget! Well at least until the alarm goes off.

The SunTimer is the ultimate UV detector in the form of a watch that you program with your skin type and SPF level, which it then uses to track your sun exposure to let you know when you've had enough. It has handy features like a lightening/darkening display according to light levels, and all the usual features like stopwatch and alarm.

Although we're all at risk for skin cancer (especially if we spend time in the sun without protection), new data coming out of Ireland shows that some groups are at higher risk than others. In a study that looked at more than 23,000 people over 12 years, skin cancer was more common in men, older people, and those living in wealthier areas. The study also has some interesting results regarding specific types of skin cancers and gender, age, and lifestyle.

The experts in this case didn't have much to say as far as theories on why the results came out the way they did. At this point everybody should be taking skin care and sun protection seriously, whether you're in a high risk group or not.

With the temperature rising and the long, sunny days of summer upon us it's time to think about sun safety. It's good to have fun in the sun, but it's important to stay safe while you're at it. The Sun Safety Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the prevalence of skin cancers, is sponsoring Sun Safety Week June 3rd-9th.

The Alliance released survey results showing that the number of Americans who use sunscreen has declined over the past two years. This is surprising considering that sun safety is more understood now and that skin cancer is on the rise. The Alliance offers the following tips to help you block the sun, not the fun:

• Apply sun protection that screen both UVA and UVB rays (SPF 15 or higher for adults, SPF 30 or higher for children).
• Apply sun screen every two hours, after swimming/perspiring heavily, or toweling off.
• Wear a hat with a brim wide enough to shade your face from the sun.
• Seek shade during peak sun hours.