clevelandclinicmagazine - Best Hospitals, US News best hospitals

onthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebonthewebLiving HealthyThe Unhealthy TanIn the United States, the percentage of people who developmelanoma, a form of skin cancer caused by sun exposure,has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Each year, morethan 50,000 new cases are diagnosed.While those numbers are disturbing, another alarm issounding: young people, without years of sunlight exposurelike the majority of skin cancer sufferers, are increasinglybeing diagnosed with melanoma.“Although it is still fairly rare in children, I’ve seen studieswhere cases of melanoma are found in children as young asfour years old,” says Julian Kim, M.D., a staff physician whospecializes in surgical oncology. “The concern now is thatwe are seeing people in their late teens and early 20s beingdiagnosed more and more with melanoma.”In this day and age, the mental connection between tannedskin and good health still prevails. This concept has drivenpeople to seek a sun-kissed look, whether it’s through sweatingon the beach, using artificial tanners, or “fake baking”- spending10 or 20 minutes in a tanning bed.“Although the cause of this trend of more young peoplewith melanoma is not yet known, tanning booths are probablya contributing factor,” says Dr. Kim. The major concernwith tanning beds is the extremely intense, damaging ultra-Microscopic image of skin cancer.violet (UV) rays. Tanning beds can provide hours of sunlightin minutes, and that is highly dangerous for a person’s skin,especially when the practice begins at younger ages.Some people use tanning beds to get a “base tan” so theydon’t burn on sun-filled vacations. However, a person doesn’tneed to have excessive sunlight to develop melanoma, Dr.Kim warns. “I have diagnosed patients with melanoma whohave had very brief exposure to sunlight and may have onlyvisited a tanning bed once or twice.”Unfortunately, many young people still sunbathe and visittanning beds regularly. Dr. Kim believes this is because “theconcept of cancer hasn’t sunk in to young people yet. I haveto tell college students they have a deadly disease, and theylook at me like it’s impossible.”With all the pressure to have that sun-loving look, what dodoctors tell their young patients to encourage them to avoidoverexposure to the sun?“I tell them that the damage the sun can do to their skin isirreparable, even if it doesn’t show up until years later,” saysDr. Kim. “You only have one set of skin, and it has to last youyour whole life.”For more information about melanoma risks and safeguards, go toour Web site at www.clevelandclinic.org/clevelandclinicmagazineReaders’ SurveyReaders’ PollInformation From YouMakes the Informationin Here BetterWe want to hear what you think aboutCleveland Clinic Magazine. Please take a fewminutes to go online and fill out our survey.As a special thanks, we’ll send you our exclusiveCleveland Clinic Magazine 7-day pillbox.Go to www.clevelandclinic.org/clevelandclinicmagazineThe Gift of Life:Organ DonationOn our Web site, readers are invited to share theiropinions about subjects from the magazine.In the “Changing Transplantation” story (this issue, page16), we talk about innovations on several medical fronts thatare changing the way we approach organ donations andtransplantation. Tell us what you think in our next Readers’Poll “The Gift of Life: Organ Donation” atwww.clevelandclinic.org/clevelandclinicmagazineYou can also visit our Web site to find out what readershad to say in our last poll, “A New Kind of Office Visit:Shared Medical Appointments.”www.clevelandclinic.org 9