September
2006
Hard to explain?
You know everytime I tell people what the deal with melanoma is, in terms of risk factors and so on, I always get at least a suprised look. For example office workers are at higher risk of melanoma skin cancer because the daily grind is indoors, the lunch break in the summer might be an hour outside unprotected and to top it all off workers on higher incomes have greater chance of sun seeking on holiday. So when I say to people that audience is totaly oblivious to the skin cancer message it opens ears and helps people be more receptive to what is a very confusing subject.
All that exposure is infrequent, but intense and takes place over very many years, gradually building up damage as we go along. Also it might be no good to slap on the sunscreen now and take measures now suddenly because we know the sun damages our skin, because by the age of 21 you’ve had all the sun you need for that damage to be mounting up, which is another aspect which tends to get people’s attention.
So when I say actually if you stay indoors you might be at higer risk of skin cancer, it raises some eyebrows, because it goes directly against the notion of what causes skin cancer. Now I’m not saying that claim is true what I’m trying to demonstrate is you give people something to think about and they’ll be interested thus you have a better chance at educating them as opposed to telling them something they already know.
There was a study a while back which showed people who were shown UV photos of the damage done to their skin were more receptive and responded better to the ideas put forward by sunSmart. I wish to make the case that on the prevention side we should in no way be telling people what to think, but we should be enabling them to think and chose the best course of action for their situation. Much like each person is unique, each skin cancer awareness message must now start doing a better job, we are letting people down and I know given enough quality information which allows people to think for themselves, the messages are more effective.
October
2006
I had no idea that the risk was higher for those of us who hide indoors all summer long. That makes sense though.
Good luck with everything you have going on. I understand what going through tests and the thoughts of possible recurrances of cancer are like having just gone through it myself.
Prayers and good wishes!