Well here in the Sunshine
State we hear about the dangers of skin
cancer and the importance of using sun
protection outside but according to the
National Cancer Institute only a third
of American adults regularly wear
sunscreen and for men under 50 the risk
of developing melanoma the deadliest
form of skin cancer is greater than any
other type of cancer and here to explain
why and to discuss prevention and
treatment is Dr. Jose Lutzky oncologist
with Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami
and melanoma survivor
Richard Wing thank you both for joining
us. Thank you here so Richard was
skin cancer even on your radar
no it wasn't I had noticed a little bump
on my head on my scalp that grew pretty
quickly in about two-and-a-half weeks it
went from BB sized to pea sized and I
had my wife also monitoring it and its
growth and when we when we wound up
coming down to Miami excuse me
we found a dermatologist who specialized
in skin cancer rather than wrinkle free
stuff and we got to see him and he did a
biopsy and a couple weeks later when we
were over in Bimini we wound up getting
an email that said call me and we did
and he said don't call nine-one-one or
11 she said but don't wait until March
to get back to Miami because I did have
melanoma and he wound up being my
advocate and helping to set up a
same-day procedure for a PET scan to
find out where the hot spots were and
also then to get to see dr. lutzky found
out that I had for hot spots I had
tumors on my liver my lungs my right
shoulder and one in my brain wound up
taking care of the one in the brain with
Gamma Knife surgery in South Miami and
then when that was completed I was able
to get on to a clinical trial
on that was for immunotherapy and I had
to be back down in Miami every three
weeks for two years and that's the path
that we went on and it was quite
successful I was gonna see but what's
shocking news I mean when a doctor tells
you that you know the cancer is already
spread
how do you cope with something like that
the first thing be sure that you still
keep a positive attitude and come at it
as a project it'll give you a little
distance and let you to have some
objectivity about what's going on and I
didn't really freak out when I was told
that I had cancer the first thing that I
really did was to reflect on my life and
at that time I was already 70 years old
and I've had a wonderful life and a
great family so I put that into
perspective and didn't think about the
bad parts and I was very hopeful that
this would work and it certainly did
doctor do you hear this story often
where you know somebody just notices
something small but it turns out to be a
lot more serious yes sometimes melanoma
which can be quite advanced may be
manifested by there are small external
features that's not usually the case
though more often people will have an
initial melanoma that will be treated
treated with surgery and and then
sometimes several years later or or less
the disease may reappear in different
organs what do you want people to know
about melanoma that we we don't and
especially the risk for men yeah so many
things I want people to know about
melanoma after I don't think we have
enough time here to go over those but
let me think of the most important ones
number one is what we already know but
we often forget is that the main cause
of melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet
light sun exposure particularly in
childhood and
and as it continues throughout life so
that's the first thing we need to avoid
we need to avoid behaviors that also
lead to increase exposure like tanning
beds tanning beds or no no tanning beds
should be a no-no especially because
they used mostly by younger people
teenagers young adults really at a time
where they're more susceptible to
developing these issues later in life
we're seeing us some some ways to
prevent skin cancer one of the things
that we have up at the very top is seek
the shade especially between those peak
hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
right not burning covering up sunscreen
yeah a lot of people say well you know
what I'm not I'm not laying out I'm not
going in the Sun but you would say
everyday everybody I would say to use
sunscreen in the exposed areas every day
on the face and the extremities just
walking from the parking lot to your
office and back can add up over time you
you you do want to use sunscreen when
you're going to predict you're going to
be exposed to the Sun particularly in
those peak hours as you mentioned there
are now several products several fabrics
that have SPF number that will protect
you also if you don't like the feeling
of sunscreen you can wear someone some
of this gear that it's actually very
helpful very important is a hat people
wear caps and they forget that cap will
not protect their ears and the posterior
part of their neck and those are very
common areas for skin cancer in general
as well as melanoma so a wide brim hat
or one of those foreign legion hats with
a flap those should be well you
mentioned something interesting you know
we drive to work this side often has all
this exposure and and and that shows up
in cancer rates can you clean up yes a
very curious that the when melanomas
occur
in the arms in the US and some of the
Western countries it occurs on the left
side in countries where the driver is
driving on the right side it occurs on
the right side of the body and that I
think really illustrates the importance
of wearing sunscreen on a daily basis
even when you're driving may ask not to
put you on the spot did you use
sunscreen as an adult I did when I was a
kid I was outside all the time and I did
not as far as the risk for men versus
women why is it higher I think it may
have to do with the fact that men are
often more exposed to the Sun I don't I
don't think there is a gender issue
necessarily although that could be as
well but I think it may be related more
to men being more outdoors they work
outdoors they're more exposed to
Authority maybe they don't wear as much
sunscreen as women women in general are
more careful with their health and it if
you're Hispanic African American the
rules go are the same right for
sunscreen yeah the rules apply to
everyone obviously the more melanin you
have in your skin the darker your skin
more protected you are because the
melanin actually well quenches the
ultraviolet light and that's the
function of Melanie so so but here in
Florida I have seen melanoma in all
shades of skin so it is not completely
protective in in african-americans for
example the more common sight of
melanoma tends to be in the palms and
soles and that's a different type of
melanoma that really needs to be taken
care of early Richard if I can ask how
are you doing today and what is your
message to everybody watching well I'm
feeling great today and actually going
through the immunotherapy because it
wound up boosting my own immune system
and allowing it to fight the cancer I
did not have any
symptoms all the way through it it was
actually kind of funny because the
doctor lutzky asked me about halfway
through it if I had any rashes and I
said no and he had asked me if I had any
digestion issues and I said no and he
then asked me about fatigue and I said
yeah I said our neighborhood put on a
benefit for the Wounded Warrior Project
about a week and a half ago and when I
got off that 5k run I was a little tired
oh so he put a big grin on it said okay
I don't need to ask you those questions
anymore
so I actually felt good all the way
through it in the thing that I would say
for any men if you feel something on
your skin speak up see a dermatologist
right away yeah I think that's a great
message for all of us I thank you both
for joining us I think we learned a lot
thank you thank you very much and for
more on protecting your skin visit the
Skin Cancer Foundation at skin cancer
org or you can check out our Facebook
page at Your South FL.