THE SKIN CANCER TIPPING POINT: ARE WE THERE YET?
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Unlike many other diseases, we know what causes the majority of skin cancers –exposure to the sun’s damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays. Despite this, skin cancer treatments ranked as the most commonly performed procedures by American Society for Dermatologic Surgery members in 2015 for the fourth year in a row – confirming the growing incidence of this disease.
What gives?
ASDS.NET
The numbers of new cases may be rising, but many dermatologists are cautiously optimistic that we are making slow and steady progress on all fronts and are nearing the skin cancer tipping point.
Here’s why:
New Treatments
MEET CHRISTINE CHOI KIM, MD – SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DERMATOLOGIST
For Southern California dermatologist Christine Choi Kim, MD, the whole is almost always greater than the sum of its parts when it comes to skin rejuvenation procedures.
In her practice as well as in her role as a clinical research investigator at the Clinical Science Institute in Santa Monica, CA, Dr. Kim combines or stacks treatments to achieve optimal yet subtle enhancements.
Dr. Kim attended the seven-year accelerated B.A.-M.D. program at Boston University. She went on to earn an M.B.A. in healthcare management at the Boston University Graduate School of Management. She trained at Weill Cornell Medical Center-New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, serving as chief residen
LIFE-SAVING MELANOMA MIRACLES
For years, there was little, if anything, doctors could offer for advanced or spreading melanoma, the potentially fatal form of skin cancer.
But that was then.
“The landscape has totally changed and for the first time we have been able to essentially cure metastatic disease. What was once fatal now has real hope,” says Mona Mofid, MD, FAAD, Medical Director, American Melanoma Foundation and a dermatologist in San Diego, Calif.
Take former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, for example, she says. Diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in his ninth decade, he is now cancer-free. “I personally have four patients who had metastatic disease in the brain or lung whose melanoma is now undetect
SAVE YOUR SKIN (AND MAYBE YOUR LIFE)
One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime, and rates of melanoma – the most deadly form of skin cancer – have been rising steadily for the past three decades.
Basal Cell Carcinomas (most common form of skin cancer) and Squamous Cell Carcinomas (the second most common) are caused primarily by sun exposure, and tend to develop on sun-exposed areas, including the face, ears, neck, lips, scalp, and the backs of the hands. Unfortunately, most skin cancers (estimated at around 80%) occur on the face.
“While daily and rigorous use of broad spectrum SPF30+, seeking shade during peak hours 12-2 pm, and wearing protective clothing are still the best ways to p
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