Know your risk for skin cancer
The biggest risk men take to their health every day is going out without sun protection. As a result, men have a higher rate of developing melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, than women. This is true at any age, even among younger men.
Good news, though: is skin cancer is preventable and highly curable if caught early. However, because melanoma is not always detected immediately, it is the deadliest cancer.
Men take the biggest risk to their health every day by going out without sun protection. As a result, men have higher rates of melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, than women. This is true at any age, even in young men.
Good news, though: Is skin cancer preventable and very curable if caught early? However, because melanoma is not always immediately detected, it is the most deadly cancer.
The reasons range from behavioral to physiological:
Men protect their skin less often, possibly because they are less conscious. For example, only 56% of men correctly believe that there is no such thing as a healthy tan, compared to 76% of women.
Even when aware of the dangers of the sun, men take less care of their skin, while women are more likely to use sun protection products every day.
Men have thicker subcutaneous tissue with less fat and more elastin and collagen. This difference may result in males’ greater response to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays and females’ ability to better repair UV damage.
Proactively reduce your risks
Whether sunny or cloudy, if you’re a man, you should make it a priority to protect yourself from UV rays whenever you’re outside. To Help Prevent Skin Cancer:
- Seek shade as often as possible.
- Wear a wide-brimmed hat, UV-blocking sunglasses, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants.
- Apply one ounce of broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher to all of your exposed skin 15 to 30 minutes before going outside.
- Use a self-tanning lotion instead of tanning beds or tanning outdoors.
You should get regular skin cancer screening by a dermatologist.
\Between medical screenings, perform regular skin self-examinations with a partner or a mirror. Look for itchy, bleeding or changed, or new or suspicious skin lesions. Tell your primary care provider if you find out about this.
Know your risk for skin cancer
