Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched the ‘Your skin ... Your health’ campaign to raise awareness about skin cancer.
Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a major risk factor for this type of cancer.
Heba Nassar, head of the Health Education Department at QCS, said: “The most common source of UV is sunlight. Tanning lamps, which are part of tanning beds, are an artificial source of UV radiation.”
Other risk factors include exposure to chemicals, especially at the workplace, including arsenic, industrial tar, coal and paraffin as well as certain types of oil. The risk of skin cancer is much higher for those with fair (light-coloured) skin than dark-skinned people, QCS has said in a statement. Also, getting infected with certain types of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus), particularly those that affect the anal or genital area, may increase skin cancer risks, Nassar adds.
Early signs and symptoms include a sore that does not heal, change in sensation – itchiness, tenderness, or pain, flat, firm, pale or yellow areas, similar to a scar, small, pink or red, translucent, shiny, pearly bumps, which might have blue, brown, or black areas, new moles and any changes in existing moles in size, shape or colour.
Nassar advised people to check for the following: one half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other, the edges are irregular, ragged, notched or blurred, the colour is not the same all over and may include shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue, the spot is larger than 6mm across (about the size of a pencil eraser) and whether the mole is evolving or changing in size, shape or colour.