Diagnosed with Cancer? Your two greatest challenges are understanding cancer and understanding possible side effects from chemo and radiation. Knowledge is Power!
Learn about conventional, complementary, and integrative therapies.
Dealing with treatment side effects? Learn about evidence-based therapies to alleviate your symptoms.
Click the orange button to the right to learn more.
- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog »
- non-conventional therapies »
- Lower Skin Cancer Rates Through Nutrition, Supplementation and Lifestyle
Lower Skin Cancer Rates Through Nutrition, Supplementation and Lifestyle
Skin cancer is a fast-growing epidemic in the United States with greater than 3.5 million new cases diagnosed each year.[1] The incidence has tripled since the 1970s.
No one disputes that skin cancers- non-melanoma (basel, squamous cell) and melanoma skin cancer, are a huge problem growing annually. No one disputes that while non-melanoma skin cancers have a good five-year survival rate they can become melanoma and can be disfiguring.
What is being disputed is what to do about this large and growing problem.
Due to repeated sunburns as a teen and aggressive chemotherapy and radiation due to a cancer diagnosis in early 1994, I have an increased risk of skin cancer.
What I do? My thinking?. Reduce your risk of SC through lifestyle, diet and supplementation. You. Yourself. Not your physician but you. Having you dermatologist check you annually for SC is fine. Make sure he/she uses a dermoscope to examine your skin. But you must remember that skin cancer can be tricky to diagnose.
My point in all this is that SC and melanoma are complicated cancers. Visual inspection of your skin is…less a than reliable method to reduce your risk of skin cancer than evidence-based, non-toxic methods to lower your risks
Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer at a Glance-
- Risks– UV Exposure, HPV, Genetics, Skin Pigment, Immunosuppression, Radiation Therapy, Age, Previous Skin Cancer,
- Symptoms– Itching, Bleeding, Shape (A,B,C,D,E).
- Diagnosis– Visual inspection (A,B,C,D,E), Skin Biopsy (Shave, Punch, Incisional/Excisional)
- Prognosis- Staging-
- Therapy– Conventional, Non-Conventional, Integrative, Alternative
Melanoma at a glance-
- Risks– UV Exposure, HPV, Genetics, Skin Pigment, Moles, Immunosuppression, Previous Skin Cancer Diagnosis,
- Symptoms- Mole, Shape (A,B,C,D,E), Itching, Bleeding,
- Diagnosis- Visual Inspection, Skin Biopsy,
- Prognosis– Staging, In-situ, I, II, III, IV, Five year survival rates
- Therapy– Conventional, Non-Conventional, Integrative, Alternative
I am both a cancer survivor and cancer coach. Living with an “incurable” cancer since 1994 has taught me that self-reliance is a key component of health care.
Have you been diagnosed with Basel, Sqamous Cell or Melanoma skin cancer? Scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
Thanks,
David Emerson
- Cancer Survivor
- Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
Are yearly body exams an answer to rising skin cancer rates?
“As rates of skin cancer, or melanoma, rise for men and women in the United States, health experts are debating the effectiveness of annual total body examinations in helping to detect the disease in its earlier stages. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.
Routine full body exams for skin cancer are not usually part of the annual physical exams performed by primary care providers and non-dermatology specialists. Last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel on preventive and primary care, concluded that there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine full body skin examinations for adult patients.
However, a group of dermatologists and oncologists published an article in the March issue of the journal Future Medicine asking the preventive task force to revise its stance on full body skin inspections. In the journal article, the authors disagreed with the task force’s findings and the physicians who authored the article stated that routine body screening of “high risk” individuals could help reduce skin cancer deaths.
As summer nears and more people prepare to go out in the sun, Dr. Philip Scumpia, a dermatologist and dermatopathologist, says there are conflicting recommendations over full body skin inspections.”
Skin Cancer Prevention