With Memorial Day right around the corner and summer up ahead, you already know to wear sunscreen outdoors. But there’s more you can do to prevent skin cancer — and new research sheds more light on protecting your skin.

UV damage to your eyes can start in as little as 15 minutes.

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Dr. Orit Markowitz, a dermatologist at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, said seeing a dermatologist regularly is a must.

“Often people do not realize that annual or bi-annual skin checks depending on risk factors like large moles or a family history of melanoma is as critical as using sunscreen in preventing skin cancers,” Dr. Markowitz said. “At skin exams, pre-cancerous growths can be addressed and managed to help prevent the development of future skin cancers, especially since the most common locations of skin cancers are in cosmetically delicate areas like the head and neck.”

Turns out, a lot of us have anxiety about seeing a dermatologist. A study in JAMA Dermatology reported that nearly half of women and 40 percent of men preferred to leave their undergarments in place during the exam. (Less than 1 percent of melanomas are found in the genital region.)

The study also found that most of us want a doctor of the same gender — one third of women and nearly one fifth of men expressed a gender preference. Among women, 99 percent wanted a female doctor and nearly two thirds of the men preferred a male physician.

New Discoveries
Markowitz recently published research in the Journal of Clinical Aesthetic Dermatology that detailed how non-invasive imaging could diagnose pre-cancers forming into skin cancers. In her study, Dr. Markowitz found that more than 50 percent of what appears to be normal skin areas next to areas of pre-cancer are actually pre-cancers. The information will help dermatologists understand the concept of field cancerization and treating an area with lasers, creams or both as opposed to freezing and or targeting individual spots only.

Half of what appear to be normal skin areas next to areas of pre-cancer is actually pre-cancerous.

Markowitz also is one of the early users of Optical Coherence Tomography, a non-invasive imaging method that can visualize skin structure; it’s been proven useful in evaluating the degree of sun damage in skin and identifying pre-cancerous lesions. She has been able to successfully treat early and even more advanced non-melanoma skin cancers using the technology, which does not cut the skin.

Other new research includes using an immunotherapy drug called pembrolizumab to treat melanoma. A recent study found that four in 10 melanoma patients were still alive after three years when given a drug to boost their immune system, a study suggested.

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Sun Safety Goes Beyond Skin
Want to stay safe every day? Use and reapply a lotion with at least SPF 30 daily. Protective clothing is now on the market, which has SPF protection built in.

“The thicker the sunscreen, the less often you need to reapply — but the warmer the day and or the more someone sweats, the more critical to reapply,” Markowitz added.

Protect your eyes as well, because though most of us are concerned about damage from ultraviolet rays, just 31 percent of us use protective eyewear when we go outside, a recent Vision Council survey found. In addition to our skin, sun exposure can cause eye irritation, vision trouble, and red or swollen eyes.

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“UV damage to your eyes can start in as little as 15 minutes,” Dr. Justin Bazan, a medical adviser to The Vision Council, said in a statement. “Many Americans have a ‘passive’ relationship with their sunglasses, and they don’t realize the dangerous health consequences that can occur from overexposure to the sun’s rays without the right eye protection.”

Tell your dermatologist if your moles have:

  • asymmetry, where one half of the mole is different from the other half;
  • borders that are irregular, scalloped or poorly defined;
  • color that varies from one area to another, with shades of tan and brown, black, sometimes white, red or blue;
  • diameters that are the size of a pencil eraser (6mm) or larger (some melanomas can be smaller); or
  • an evolving look, meaning a mole or skin lesion looks different from the rest of the skin or is changing in size, shape and color.