One fine day when I was at a local store I was impressed by the hair coloring of the clerk seated there. I told her how beautiful the coloring looked on her with that perfect dark base and the streaks that looked so natural. It seemed as if the sun itself had beautifully dyed her hair. We got talking about how when we were young we did not have to take the help of any hair dye. We had to spray SunIn on the hair and exposed it to sunlight for an hour or so and we had the desired hair color. This led to discussing how that was almost impossible now what with the ozone layer weakening and the ultraviolet rays having the potential to cause irreparable damage to our hair. (SunIn by the way is not one of the aerosols but is a pump spray).

However we are not here to discuss hair coloring methods that do not contain chemicals. We are here to provide you with information regarding the many types of skin cancer. However as we are no skin experts the information that we make available to you here would be basic and informative.

The major types of skin cancer are: Basal Cell Carcinoma (also referred to as non-melanoma skin cancer); Melanoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Melanoma (also, Cutaneous Melanoma, Malignant Melanoma) – Cancer cells are growing in the melanocytes, the cells that are responsible for skin pigmentation. According to University of Maryland medicine and other experts, of all of the types of skin cancer, Melanoma is “the rarest and the most virulent.” It is typically found in people with fair skin, light hair, and/or light eyes, though it is possible in others with different complexions, and as the experts above also assert, does not exempt those with dark brown or black skin. Identifiable symptoms include, most commonly, a mole changing color, size, shape, or state (starts oozing or bleeding), or a mole that UMM notes “feels itchy, hard, lumpy, swollen, or tender to the touch.”

Squamous Cell Carcinoma- This type of skin cancer is also known as non-melanoma skin cancer. This manifests itself as red colored scaly patches or nodules. This mainly affects the Caucasians as they have a light complexion. The symptoms are mostly seen on ear-rims, lips, mouth and face.

Basal Cell Carcinoma – The second of the types of skin cancer, Basal Cell Cancer, typically starts as a “small, fleshy bump or nodule,” most commonly found on the head, neck, and/or hands. Of the three types of skin cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma, which is typically found in Caucasians, say those at UMM, make up “more than 90 percent in the U.S..

My mother suffered from the second most common of types of the cancer of the skin and at first we thought it was Herpes. She however knew it was nothing but sun blister. She went to an expert who took care of the problem. That’s a piece of good news to instill some hope when you lament the loss of swimming, sunbathing and picnicking in the summer sun.