There are many factors that go into why you see more older people with skin cancer than younger people. One of these is because most of the damage caused by the sun’s UV rays is long term damage. Older people a lot of the time are paying the price for what they did earlier in their life.
That’s not the only factor however, it has been proven that older skin just doesn’t respond as effectively when trying to fight off infection. There was an article this weekend on the BBC News website entitled “Elderly Skin Raises Cancer Risk” that talks about a recent study they did over there in the United Kingdom.
The study, who’s findings will be published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, found out that as you grow older your skin’s immune system losing some of its ability to respond. This contradicted earlier thinking that problems with T-cells, a type of immune cell, were responsible for immunity decreasing with age. It turned out in fact that it was the skin’s inability to get the t-cells to where they were needed that was to blame.
For the study they took two groups of people, one of 40 year old people and one of people over the age of 70. Both of these groups were then injected with an antigen in order to stimulate an immune response in in the skin. As they had expected the immune response was much slower in the group of older individuals.
What was surprising was that when they went to look at the t-cell’s, they discovered that nothing was wrong with them. The t-cells were not to blame. Rather, the skin just lacked the ability to direct the t-cells to the place where they were needed.
“At the outset we thought it would be the cells responsible for combating infections that might be at fault, but the surprising thing was the T cells were fine but they couldn’t get into the skin – the signals were missing,” Mr Akbar said.
He said it raised the possibility of ways to boost the immune system in older people to give them a better chance of fighting infection and reducing the risk of skin cancer.
“The question that it raises is what survival advantage there is to this, is there a negative reason for having too much immunity in the skin when you get older?
“Going in to intervene may have consequences that we don’t realise and that’s where we need to do more research.”
This is significant because this problem is something that is much easier to fix than if it was damage to the actual cells. The cells are there, they just need to be directed where they need to go. This is a much more treatable problem to have. The more doctors know about how the body ages health wise, the better they can go about figuring out how to best protect it.
When the news this summer hit about tanning beds being confirmed as causing cancer a lot of people began to get worried. The media really ran with that story and it was everywhere. I don’t think it really shed any new light on the subject, they went from being a probable cause to a definite cause, but it was indeed a big story.
There has been fallout from that confirmation, as many states have enacted laws governing indoor tanning and spray tanning has taken a surge in popularity. The Indoor Tanning Association even launched a campaign to fight back against the negative publicity.
Today I’d like to address a related issue, that of tanning addiction —or tanorexia. Many people are now finding out that they are concerned about the issue of skin cancer but can’t seem to stay away from indoor tanning.
On the US News and World Report website there’s a blog post entitled “How to Break your Tanning Addiction” that covers this issue. I know what your saying, how can someone be addicted to tanning? Well, I can assure you that it does indeed happen.
A 2006 study from Wake Forest University found that frequent tanners actually experienced real withdrawal symptoms when they stopped using tanning beds. These symptoms included nausea and jitteriness. These withdrawals happened because the UV lights emitted by the tanning beds triggered the release of endorphins in tanners bed. These people’s bodies then became dependent on those endorphin surges just like people addicted to opiates are. This doesn’t happen to people who use tanning beds occasionally, but with frequent tanners it does. This makes it very hard for them to stop the behavior despite the confirmed negative ramifications of prolonged use.
“Some people who compulsively tan have body dysmorphic disorder, which is an under-recognized and pretty common disorder” and is defined as a distressing preoccupation with a small or nonexistent flaw in one’s appearance, says Katharine Phillips, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University Medical School. Her research has shown that one quarter of those with BDD tan excessively to hid imperfections like acne or wrinkles
.For tanorexics, indoor tanning may be preferred because it yields that even tan—free of swimsuit lines—that they can’t get from sunbathing outdoors. What’s more, many women mistakenly think that indoor tanning is safer than the sun’s natural radiation because it’s less likely to cause a burn.
I can attest from personal experience that this does in fact happen. I know people who suffer from this. The blog on the US News and World report site is targeted to women, but some of the biggest tanning addicts that I know are men.
People that do find themselves addict to the tanning beds find themselves in a precarious situation. Now that the tanning beds are confirmed to be a serious health risk, an alternative has to be found if you want to live a safe healthy lifestyle. Spray tanning or self tanning creams will still give you that bronze look that you crave, but the endorphin rush is not going to be there anymore.
If you’re feeling irritable and need a mood lift, get active for 45 minutes by running or taking a spinning class, suggests Feldman. Or cut back gradually on tanning if going cold turkey leaves you feeling down in the dumps. If you simply can’t function normally without that perfect tan, you may have BDD. You could benefit from antidepressants or cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches you strategies to gradually cut back on tanning. “It’s very treatable,” says Phillips, “but you can’t tell someone to simply stop tanning.”
It might be hard at first for tanning addicts to kick the tanning addiction, but the long term benefits are going to make it worth while. To continue to do behavior that you know is bad for you seems ludicrous. Try and tell that to people, such as myself, who smoke cigarettes though. Each person has to make their own risk assessment, and decide if what they get out of the behavior is worth the risk.
I came across a very saddening story from over in Manchester, England. Its the tale of Nick Hobin. Nick was a 32 year old fair skinned man who its said stayed away from the sun whenever possible. Yet the young father, still passed away earlier this month from melanoma.
The article from the Manchester Evening News entitled “Skin Cancer Kills Dad Who Never Sunbathed” talks about this tragic turn of events. Nick it says was very fair skinned, with a pale complexion and red hair. He recognized that this put him at an increased risk for skin cancer, and according to his wife did everything possible to keep himself away from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
“He was so careful because he had red hair and very pale skin – he never sunbathed, he was really careful to stay in the shade and he would cover himself in towels to protect his skin.
“I was always the one sitting by the pool and he would be inside our hotel room watching TV. He came on holiday for the social life, not the sun – it seems so unfair that he got skin cancer.
“When we were at the airport going home I would be tanned and he would be totally white and we would joke that we had just met.
“I can’t believe he has gone but now he has I want to warn other people to use sun screen, to stay out of the sun, to protect themselves and the people they love. Skin cancer has destroyed my family and I don’t want it to destroy any more lives.”
This case shows just how scary the problem of skin cancer is. Now I’m certainly not asking anyone to be a hermit and live in a bubble, exposure to the sun is something that is unavoidable and we just have to learn to exist in harmony.
Nick ended up having 3 operations in an attempt to remove the cancer from his body. Initially doctors thought they had been successful in removing the cancer. Unfortunately, they were wrong and the cancer eventually spread to his brain. Earlier this month, Nick passed away at the tender age of 32.
Nick’s case is tragic and I feel deeply saddened by the pain that his family is going through now. Its true that people with fair skin and a pale complexion are the most successetable to skin cancer, but that it something that’s not under your control. There’s no need to waste energy concentrating on things that you can not change. That energy should be better spent on things you can change.
The advice is to just be vigilant about your time spent out in the sun. Apply sunscreen whenever you can and try to plan activities so they are not during the midday hours when the sun’s rays are at their strongest. I’m a big fan of the beach, but I like to get their early and then take off for lunch. That way you avoid the most dangerous time.
You also can not forget about the areas of your body that sunscreen might not get. Protective clothing is fantastic if you plan on engaging in outdoor activity or if your job insists on it. Sunglasses are extremely important as well, its a definite must to protect your eyes.
All the advice is basically the same, it really hasn’t changed much since as far back as I can remember. People just need to remember to follow it. A minor inconvenience is nothing compared to the possible negative ramifications. Cases like Nick from Manchester’s are tragic, and much more common than you might think. With certain precautions taken though anyone can lead a very active outdoor lifestyle and give themselves the best chance at never having to deal with any of the horrible negative consequences.
By now I’m sure that everyone knows that skin cancer and sun exposure is for real and a major problem in our modern world. Still, some people don’t pay heed to warnings and shrug at taking simple precautions. The only way those things are going to change is to effect a culture change through teaching healthier protective ways to our young people.
One of the most important things to remember when trying to teach young people about serious subjects, is that you have to make it a little fun in order to keep their attention. Kids aren’t going to listen to Steven Hawking drone on about science, but they do listen to Mr. Wizard. With that in mind I’d like to talk about a great product that’s really surged in popularity this summer, the UV bracelet.
UV bracelets are made with beads that change color when they come into contact with the sun’s UV rays. These bracelets are not made to prevent skin cancer, keep you from getting sunburned, or help you tan safely, instead they are used as an awareness tool. By changing color in the sun, the beads let you know all the different situations when your skin is being exposed to UV rays. This does not mean just the obvious ones like when your standing out at the beach in direct sunlight. I think its most effective in showing you the ones people don’t think about, such as while sitting in your car.
The East Valley Tribune out of Phoenix, AZ had a great article entitled “Cancer Survivor Hopes Jewelry Will Warn Others”, in which they talk about one woman who’s taken up the cause of UV jewelry. This woman hopes that the bracelets can help others more easily learn the lesson that she learned the hard way.
I think these bracelets will be especially effective in raising awareness in children because they make it fun. Kids love things that change colors. I remember when I was a child being fascinated by glow in the dark stuff. Now with these bracelets you can let the kids know that anytime the beads change colors that means they should be protecting their skin in some manner. The transformation is like magic and gets to happen right before their very eyes.
If kids can start to learn how important it is to wear sunscreen all the time, eventually it will become a habit. Then habits are much easier to pass on then learning brand new ways of behavior.
I think UV bracelets are a fantastic idea. There are even places where you can buy just the beads and make the bracelets yourself with your children. I’m hopeful that this can be a nice tool in our efforts to raise awareness amongst our young people, and eventually carry that on to everyone.
A recent study had found that the risk for melanoma was increased 4x for women who took supplemental vitamins C and E, beta carotene, selenium and zinc. These was an alarming study because about half of adults in our country take vitamin supplements. The results of that study shocked a lot of people. Fortunately according to an article in US New and World Report entitled “Antioxidants Pose No Melanoma Threat”, those findings of the initial study have now been found to have been flawed.
The new study, published in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology, concludes that their is no link between an increase of risk for melanoma and the use of vitamin supplements.
Consistent with the present results, case-control studies examining serologic [blood] levels of beta carotene, vitamin E and selenium did not find any association with subsequent risk of melanoma,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, the Nurses’ Health Study reported no association between intake of vitamins A, C and E and melanoma risk in 162,000 women during more than 1.6 million person-years of follow-up,” they added.The causes of melanoma have to do with genetic predisposition; sun exposure, especially in early life; and other yet-to-be determined factors, Ashinoff said. “Melanoma can occur internally, as in the vagina and GI [gastrointestinal] tract, as well as in the eye, so sun exposure is certainly not the entire story,” she said.
The new study was led by Dr. Maryam M. Asgari, of Kaiser Permanente N orthern California in Oakland. In this study they collected data on 69,671 men and women from a Vitamins and Lifestyle study. Through this they were able to take a look at the use of supplements and the risk of cancer. They were able to conclude that taking multivitamins and supplements for 10 years had no association with the risk of melanoma for either men or women.
This is good news for people and vitamin shops everywhere. The vitamin industry has certainly becoming a booming industry and people seem to be in love with them. Its extremely disheartening when you find out that something that you thought was going to be good for your body, turns out to have other bad side effects. So people keep on taking those vitamins and supplements with no need to worry about an increased risk of melanoma, and GNC keep those doors open.
