Cancer. Is there any more devastating word? How stupid would you feel if you were diagnosed with it and found out you could have prevented it. In this case, we are talking skin cancer.

When sitting in a doctor’s office, one always tends to get the feeling any news will be bad news. Imagine sitting there and having your doctor tell you that you have cancer.

What would your reaction be to such news. Panic? Shock? What would it mean to your life, your family, your friends if you found out you had cancer. What if it is terminal?

A diagnosis of cancer carries a certain lotto factor. Getting cancer is bad enough, but the type of cancer is critical to your ultimate outcome. Fortunately, skin cancer is both treatable and preventable.

The layers of your skin, with the epidermis being typical, are where you will find skin cancer. In nominal terms, the cancer is an atypical growth in the cells of the particular layer.

Skin cancer is often associated with, surprise, exposure to the sun. Repeated sun burns can be one cause. So can extensive exposure over time. Our atmosphere is letting in more ultraviolet radiation as well, which is increasing the number of cases.

“Skin cancer” is actual a global term for a health risk that can be caused by a number of problems. That is to say, you don’t get skin cancer per se. You get one of the following.

The least common form of skin cancer is also the deadlines. We are talking about melanoma. Malignant. Unless caught early, it will spread and is fatal.

Strange as it may sound, the second sub-cancer can be hereditary. It is basal cell. It is also the most frequently diagnosed skin cancer. The good news is it is rarely fatal and can be treated.

Squamous cell can be a nasty form of skin cancer, but it can also be caused by things other than the sun. It is found on both the skin and internal organs. The skin version is treatable, but it can spread and be deadly

Any cancer diagnosis is obviously a bad thing. The ironic and sad fact of skin cancer is you can reduce your risk to practically zero. You just need to take common sense steps.

Picture a warm, sunny day. What are people doing? They are lying out in the sun. They are going on walks. They are doing some landscaping. All of these things put them at risk for skin cancer.

Should you avoid being outside. Nope. All you have to do is take precautionary steps. First and foremost, wear sunscreen! How hard is that? It will protect you from the damaging rays of the sun and the potential of skin cancer.