Coalition Offers Latest Tips On Skin Cancer

Aiea High School is letting the sunshine in this week, but very carefully.

The school library will host a public informational program by Hawaii Skin Cancer Coalition and the UH Cancer Center from 6 to 7 tonight (May 15), offering seminars, skin cancer screenings, demonstrations of protective coverings, plus refreshments, on the theme “Have Fun in the Sun and Love Your Skin.”

The free program is just one way to observe Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month. Also present to meet with attendees will be Team Planet Sun’s world champion athletes.

“More than 7,000 people each year in Hawaii learn they have skin cancer; about 250 of these will be diagnosed with melanoma, the most severe type of skin cancer,” said Dr. Kevin Dawson, president of Hawaii Dermatological Society. “Exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays appears to be the most important environmental factor in its development.”

Dawson also noted that most skin cancers appear after age 50, though the damage begins in childhood.

For more information about the program, call 564-5911.