A Carlisle skincare expert is calling for people to make sure they prioritise looking after their skin.
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and clinicians at Carlisle’s The Skin Genie have teamed up with ScreenCancer, a national early detection service that can deliver quick results and avoids the need for a GP or NHS appointment.
Jenna Ferguson, director of The Skin Genie, said: “We’re all in the habit of getting our teeth checked at the dentist and visiting the optician but for some reason skin health checks are low on people’s agenda. Hopefully with awareness this can change.
“I think that because we don’t live in a sunny climate people consider the risk of skin cancer to be low, particularly in Cumbria where we have a lot of rainy days.
“This a myth and the accumulative effect of UV exposure on a day-to-day basis even when it is not sunny is extremely damaging to the skin. UVB rays are what we see when it is sunny and these rays can burn the skin, but it is the UVA rays which give us daylight that can penetrate through clouds and deep into our skin where it can cause damage and cell mutation.
“Even general activities that expose the skin like walking the dog, walking up the fells, gardening, playing golf or hanging the washing out all increase your risk of exposure to harmful rays. We all know to wear SPF when the sun is out, but ideally we should be wearing it 365 days a year.”
Also known as melanoma, skin cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK, accounting for four per cent of all new cancer cases. There are around 16,700 new skin cancer cases each year, with 29 per cent diagnosed in people aged 75 or over.
As the climate changes, health experts predict there could be a nine per cent increase in rates of new skin cancer cases by 2040. Survival rates for people diagnosed with skin cancer are high, with more than 84 per cent of cases making a full recovery and living for at least 10 years after diagnosis.
Cancer Research UK says that 86 per cent of skin cancer cases are preventable.
The Skin Genie has invested in the latest technology to view beneath the skin to identify and display components of the skin in an enlarged image. If the team notice anything unusual on a client’s skin, or a customer has a specific area of concern, the Skin Genie’s special dermoscopic camera can take detailed images and send them to ScreenCancer for further analysis.
“It may be an existing mole, a new growth on the skin, a wart or even just a dry inflamed area of skin,” said Jenna.
“Sometimes even the most innocent looking things have come back as pre-cancerous and that’s why it’s so important that we can pick up on these at such an early stage so they can be treated.”
One of the main benefits of accessing screening services at a clinic such as The Skin Genie is the quick turnaround of results, which saves time waiting for a GP appointment, and relieves pressure on the NHS.
The Skin Genie, at Houghton Hall Garden Centre, has been open for four years.
Jenna added: “We see a lot of different skin conditions in clinic and specialise in the non-surgical removal of lesions such as skin tags, warts, blood spots and mole reduction, so I felt it was a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure we had a reliable method to help us identify more serious skin concerns.”
For further information and advice about skin cancer, visit the Cancer Research website.
