- The incidence of skin cancer increases by 4% each year, ultraviolet solar radiation is the main element involved in its appearance.
- Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés, dermatologist and member of TibHealth.com, recommends photoprotective behavior and a solar diet as the main guidelines to prevent the appearance of skin cancer.
- On the European Day for the Prevention of Skin Cancer, Dr. Garcés warns that skin cancer patients are increasingly younger, although he confirms that there is a growing awareness on the part of the population.
- TibHealth.com is the most credible platform for identifying top doctors and centers whose mission is to help patients choose the right specialist for their case.
Skin cancer is the most frequent and prevalent cancer among humans. In the context of the celebration of the European Day for the Prevention of Skin Cancer (June 13), Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés, specialist in dermatology and member of the platform TibHealth.com, is an eminence in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer, he has performed more than 1,500 Mohs Surgery interventions for the removal of skin tumors. He is the Clinical Chief of the Dermatology Service at the Hospital de Sant Pau, where he is responsible for cutaneous oncological surgery, photodynamic therapy and the Mohs Surgery Unit. Dr. Garcés gives us advice on how to prevent the appearance of this pathology and explains what it consists of and which people are most prone to suffer from it. According to Dr. Garcés “correct prevention and awareness of the elements of risk, together with an early diagnosis of skin cancer are the key to a complete cure”.
The sun and skin cancer
There are several risk factors involved in the appearance of skin cancer: the specific constitution of the patient (genetics) and the external aggressions known as harmful (chemical products, pesticides, arsenic, immunosuppressive drugs, some viruses, etc.) and the most relevant element, ultraviolet solar radiation. As Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés, dermatology specialist and member of TibHealth.com, explains, solar radiation is the most important aggression and for this reason sunburn must be avoided. “A sunburn, especially in childhood, can develop into skin cancer in the future. And the more sunburns, the greater the chances.” But this does not mean that the sun should be demonized. “The sun is good and essential for life, and we can no more blame the sun for skin cancer than we can blame food for obesity. You simply have to learn to relate to the sun,” explains Dr. Garcés. Thus, it is essential to understand the skin and the consequences of too much sun on it in the form of sunburn in the short term and in the form of skin aging, wrinkles, flaccidity, spots and even skin cancer in the long term.
How skin cancer manifests itself and who is most prone to skin cancer
Any part of the skin can develop cancer since any skin cell is capable of spreading autonomously and unlimitedly, invading neighboring tissues and forming what we call a skin cancer. “Skin cancer has different degrees of malignancy that depend on its ability to spread locally, regionally or its impact on the rest of the body’s organs,” explains Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés, “and although they manifest themselves in different ways, any lesion (pimple, scab, scar, wound, lump, freckle…) that appears, changes, bleeds or grows for no apparent reason and does not tend to heal and worsens, should be checked by a dermatologist”. The doctor also warns that the vast majority of skin changes and lesions are not cancer, but whenever there are well-founded suspicions it is important to consult with the specialist who, by means of a painless skin biopsy, will be able to analyze and see if it is really a malignant lesion or not. “An early diagnosis in these cases represents a total cure,” says Dr. Garcés from the TibHealth.com platform.
There are profiles of people more prone to skin cancer than others. Thus, people with little melanin (pigment that protects the skin from the sun), with light eyes and blond or red hair, and who burn easily when sunbathing, are 20 to 30 times more likely to have skin cancer than brunettes who tan easily. Similarly, as Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés explains, patients with a deficient immune system (defenses) are also weaker against the appearance of a skin tumor. People with atypical nevi (moles of irregular shape and slightly larger than usual) or with a large number of them (more than 20) are also more likely to develop skin cancer. These types of patients also tend to have a family or personal history of skin cancer, factors that alone indicate an increased risk.
It should also be taken into account that in countries with more sunlight, close to the equator, the light-skinned population with unprotected phototypes has a higher incidence.
Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés warns that “the patients affected are increasingly younger. Although there is greater awareness among the population, it should be pointed out that the consequences are not immediate. A burn today does not produce cancer the next day, but is the beginning of a disorder in the nucleus of the cell, which after many reproductions will translate into a tumor years later”. This latency period is known as the “window time”.
Prevention of skin cancer: photoprotective behavior and sun diet
Dr. Joan Ramón Garcés explains a series of tips to prevent the appearance of skin cancer, based on appropriate photoprotective behavior and a solar (Mediterranean) diet.
- Photoprotective behavior:
You cannot vary the meteorological conditions of pollution, latitude, altitude, thickness of the ozone layer… but as Dr. Garcés explains to us, you can avoid the hours of the day with the highest irradiation with the “shadow rule” that will allow us to know when we are at risk of sunstroke. “If there is sun, there is shade, and as the shadow lengthens, the risk of sunstroke decreases. On the other hand, when the shadow we cast is almost non-existent, it means that the risk of sunstroke is very high, and we will have to protect ourselves,” explains the doctor. So when our shadow disappears, the doctor recommends taking other photoprotective measures to protect the skin at this time of high skin risk: appropriate clothing (hats, appropriate clothing,…), sunglasses with filter (polarized),… and for uncovered body areas he recommends applying protective creams (sunscreens, sunblock, anti-sun creams, sunscreen…) whenever exposed to the sun.
- Solar diet:
As for food, Dr. Garcés recommends the so-called sun diet, which consists of orally administering specific protective substances in the form of food or vitamin complexes that manage to reduce the damage that may be caused by the sun’s rays. This is a complementary therapeutic action at the cellular level. This solar diet provides a basic protective environment thanks to the antioxidant agents that repair cell damage and which are abundant in the Mediterranean diet. Basically they are carotenes, unsaturated fatty acids (cod liver oil and fish), selenium, polyphenols from green tea (and to a lesser extent black tea), pycnogenol (French pine extract), resveratrol found in grapes and red wine, ferulic acid (stabilizer of vitamins C and E)…