What you think is a harmless mole or freckle on your child could be deadly. Doctors have seen a two-to-three-percent increase nationally in cases of kids with skin cancer, a rate that is actually greater than the rate of increase in any other malignancy currently treated.
Keeping kids away from tanning beds and limiting sun exposure can protect them from melanoma, but a recent survey of 360 eigth-graders found only 25-percent used sunscreen if they were outside for more than six hours. 40-percent of them went outside just to get a tan.
All it takes is three severe sunburns before the age of 20 to significantly increase the risk of melanoma. Parents are urged to keep an eye on any moles or freckles and to watch out for these ABC’s of the disease: asymmetry, borders, color, diameter and evolution.
FDA issues new sunscreen guidelines…
