Sometimes a massage therapist is the first one to notice a skin cancer…some of our clients may live alone, for example, and we might be the only person to see the back of someone’s body.
Annie Powell, a massage therapist and creator of The World Skin Project, credits a massage therapist with discovering a malignant melanoma on her back when she was a student in massage school. You can visit her great website at www.worldskinproject.org
Skin cancer is not the result of that sunburn you got last week….usually it is from sun damage that happened years before, in childhood and adolescence. Don’t let your kids play outside without sunblock.
Melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer…if detected early, when a lesion is less than 2 mm thick, the survival rate is 90%. Left to spread, that survival rates drops to 10%. Be smart–don’t fry yourself this summer. There are safety measures we can all take. If you are using a tanning bed, stop it immediately! Avoid the urge to lie in the sun for hours. Tanning is not safe, and a sunburn is NEVER a good thing. Perform regular skin checks, and see a dermatologist for annual check ups.
