The 1 Thing This Skin Cancer Surgeon Says He Would Never Do — Not Even Once

More people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer each year than every other kind of cancer combined. In fact, one out of five people will hear a doctor say “you have skin cancer” by the age of 70. However, the survival rate is high for most skin cancers if they’re detected and treated early, and there are a slew of ways to protect ourselves.
But there are also things we might be doing that are significantly raising our risk of being diagnosed with the disease. So how do we stay as safe as possible, and what would someone who has treated thousands of skin cancer patients never do?
Those were the questions we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, the hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast ― had for Dr. Anthony Rossi, a dermatologist and surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, when he dropped by our recording studio to school us on preventing skin cancer.
Listen to the full episode by pressing play:
Rossi said tanning is the “No. 1” thing he would never do — especially using a tanning bed.
“If you’re doing artificial tanning, that’s a huge no-no.”
Tanning bed bulbs aren’t regulated, which means there’s no way to know the exact intensity of the UVA rays we’re being exposed to or how much damage they’re causing.
“It’s really high doses of UVA to give you an immediate pigment darkening and also to get you tan very quickly — it’s a like a 10-minute shake and bake,” he said. “Just even tanning once is going to put you at risk, and if you get a burn, that’s even worse.”
Rossi warned we should also avoid outdoor tanning.
“Anytime you’re getting red or peeling like that, you’ve already induced DNA [damage] and mutations that your body’s now trying to repair,” he explained. “And over time, you’re just accumulating more and more of these mutations, so eventually your body can’t repair that, and you develop a skin cancer.”
Essentially, it’s never a good idea to purposefully expose your skin to UVA rays, whether they’re artificial or natural, and Rossi advised that if we’re going to be outside (or even inside sitting in front of a sunny window), we should be using SPF protection.
“Sunscreen is super important … SPF 30 or above is going to be where your benchmark is, and then, ideally, you would apply in the morning, and then reapply every two hours if you’re in a heavily sun-exposed area, like at the beach playing sports,” he said.
When Rossi joined us earlier this year to record an entire episode dedicated to SPF protection, he told us to use a “shot glass’s worth” of sunscreen on our bodies and to apply two fingers’ worth of sunscreen — across the length of the fingers, not just the tips — on our face and neck. He also noted that we should be using SPF year-round, not just in the summer, and even on cloudy days.
Another thing he’d never do?
Skipping his yearly skin check by his dermatologist.
“We [dermatologists] always say, ‘get in your birthday suit on your birthday,’ so if that’s how you remember to get naked and go see a dermatologist for [an annual] skin check, then do it.”
However, Rossi recommended we also do our own full-body exams at home at least once a month, or, ideally, whenever we have the chance.
“Every time you’re coming out of the shower or bath, you have the opportunity to check your skin,” he said. “Use, like, a mirror situation to look at your back … [and] you really do want to look at the bottom of your feet, your palms … if you can part your hair and look at [your scalp] too, or have your partner look at it, or your best friend, whomever you feel comfortable with, they should do that as well.”
Rossi suggested we keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious, including new freckles or moles or other marks on our skin, as well as old ones that have changed in size, shape or color, or anything else that seems off.
“[Taking] a thorough inventory of what you have is really important… because [knowing if something is] evolving or changing over time, that’s super important,” he said.
Rossi also chatted with us about the a common virus that can cause skin cancer (and how to avoid it), some new cutting-edge treatments that are showing incredible promise in fighting the disease, and lots more.
Listen to the full episode above or wherever you get your podcasts.
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For more from Rossi, including info about his skin care line, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.
Need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at [email protected], and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.