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Melanoma awareness
Justin Matthews reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - Moffitt Cancer Center hosted a "Mole Patrol" Sunday morning at Gadsden Park, where people could get screened for skin cancer for free.
The cancer center has been offering this service around the community for two decades.
"Individuals can come right up. We have trained professionals here and an entire multidisciplinary team from Moffitt, that looks people up and down on the face, behind the ears, and the arms and legs, any of the exposed areas where we can identify precancerous, and cancerous lesions just primarily by looking at it. We also have derma-scopes, so they can take a more detailed look," said Dr. Nikhil Khushalani, an oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center.
"Mole Patrol" is not just about doing screenings. It’s purpose is to also spread awareness about preventing melanoma.
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"Wear your sunscreen when you’re outside. The sun is hot in Florida. We are always outside, so you’ve got to protect your skin. If you don’t have any sunscreen, which everyone should, but if you don’t, there’s always UPF clothing that you can wear as well. So, you can put on sunscreen, your UPF protective shirt, a wide-brim hat and some sunglasses, and then you’re protected from the sun," said Ashley Culbreth, a physician’s assistant at Moffitt.
Doctors say melanoma is expected to become more and more prevalent in the near future, especially among men.
"The American Cancer Society predicts that by the year 2040, the incidents of melanoma in men will shoot up to the number one cause of cancer in men and number two overall. So the more we can do now to try and prevent this from occurring through appropriate use of sunscreen, UV clothing, staying out of the sun during the peak hours like 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.," said Dr. Khushalani.
Experts urge people to reapply sunscreen especially when they get out of the water.
LINK: Click here to see where the "Mole Patrol" will be offering free screenings.