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Melanoma is a big problem — and growing. Just to put it into perspective: in 1938, 1 in 10,000 people got melanoma. Today, it's 1 in 93. The connection between sun exposure and skin cancer is well documented.
For example, we know that the risk for melanoma goes up greatly even
if you have one or two blistering sunburns in your younger years. We
also know that people who get little exposure to the sun and then go
outside are at greater risk of melanoma than people who work outdoors.It's
controversial. There's not a lot of data. Most of the evidence is
circumstantial. For example, we know that inflammation throughout the
body is the basis of a number of diseases. It's the basis of wrinkling
and skin cancer. But foods like fruits and vegetables that are rich in
antioxidants (vitamins C, E, etc.) and fatty acids (i.e. salmon,
mackerel, olive oil) decrease this inflammation and thereby reduce the
risk of skin cancer and other diseases like heart disease and
Alzheimer's. People who eat this way fare better overall than people
who do all the wrong things.Yes, the sun is damaging regardless of skin
type. It temporarily destroys your body's ability to protect your skin.
In fact, sunscreen offers a false sense of
security. While I still recommend it — there's evidence to show that
sunscreen lowers the incidence of skin cancer — there are other things
you can do to protect your skin from the sun's damaging rays.It
may not be widely known that if you take vitamins C and E your skin is
less likely to be damaged by the sun. The sun creates free radicals,
which wreak havoc on your cells and set you up for diseases like skin
cancer. Vitamins help offset these free radicals. In just 30 to 45
minutes the sun depletes 80% of our vitamin stores. I tell my patients
to take 500 mg of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 100 mg of alpha
lipoic acid and 30 mg of coenzyme Q10 (all are available at health-food
and vitamin stores). In addition, I tell them to put on antioxidant
cream. There's plenty of evidence that if you take vitamins orally,
they still get depleted in the sun. When you apply a topical, you get a
100 times higher level of the vitamin and it won't get depleted. But
even this protection doesn't give you a ticket, for example, to sit out
in the sun. Since life is terminal — and if there seems to be a
therapy that's not expensive — and not harmful — you have a moral
obligation to tell your patients about this. The more
alternative-oriented, complementary physicians understand this. There's
plenty of evidence that if you avoid sun exposure for two years that
the skin has a tremendous ability to protect itself. Of course,
but I believe that a three-tiered program of adequate protein, fresh
fruits and vegetables, elimination of alcohol and tobacco and use of
topical antioxidants can make a huge difference in your ability to
protect and preserve your skin.
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