Related Document: The Sun is Not Your Friend.pdf (Reprinted with permission
from the Messenger-Inquirer)
Dr. Crowe talks about the sun, suntans and skin cancer.
For Kirk Kirkpatrick, it was a small mole on his right thigh that he had never noticed before. Larry Moore thought the small bump on his right cheek was an infected shaving cut. What the two men have in common, other than a lifetime of working or playing in the sun, is skin cancer--and the fact that they caught it early. The American Cancer Society's Web site says about one million people each year are diagnosed with skin cancer, with most of those being nonmelanoma cases. Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, will comprise nearly 60,000 cases of skin cancer this year and about 7,800 of the 10,600 skin cancer deaths, the site said. The problem for Kirkpatrick was the mole he found on his leg in May 2001 fit none of the typical characteristics of melanoma. It was round, single-colored and hardly raised, he said. "I would have never gone to a doctor except I had a mole on the back of my neck that was bothered by my collar," Kirkpatrick said.
But he went, and the trip likely saved his life, said Kirkpatrick, 53, president of the WaxWorks/VideoWorks Inc. video division. The mole was removed and found to be malignant. At his doctor's request, Kirkpatrick returned for what he thought was going to be an outpatient procedure to remove a bit more flesh. Instead, a surgeon cut a 13-inch oval from his knee to near his hip and removed several layers of skin from around the site of the mole, he said. Three days later, Kirkpatrick learned he had a very aggressive form of melanoma that had gotten into his sentinel nodes. He learned it had not spread to his lymph nodes--which could have allowed cancer cells to travel throughout his body--after doctors cut into his right groin and removed the nodes.
During a special surgery, a tourniquet was fitted on his right leg before a mixture of heated blood and a powerful dose of chemotherapy was circulated to kill off cancer cells. The leg was then drained, but "what little chemo was left made me sick as a dog," Kirkpatrick said. For the next year, he took interferon, a drug that simulates the flu, with all its symptoms, and causes the body to increase white blood cell production to boost the immune system. Kirkpatrick said he was given a 30 percent chance of living. With the special surgery, it went up to 50 percent, then up to 70 percent if he added the interferon, he said. "Those were not numbers that impressed me," Kirkpatrick said. He was probably within two months of dying had the mole not been found, he said. He's close to five-year mark at which a case of cancer is considered cured, Kirkpatrick said. Though he is now more susceptible to a recurrence somewhere else on his body, he added, "My story is one of the few that's going to have a happy ending."
Moore, the former Kentucky Wesleyan College athletic director, hopes for a similar result as he awaits the biopsy results from the bump removed from his cheek April 27. It was the second spot removed since 2002, when a bump in a crevice of his right nostril turned out to be basal cell carcinoma--the most common and least dangerous form of skin cancer. That spot was removed from his nose, and a flap of skin taken from near his left ear was grafted over the dime-sized hole, Moore said. The fact that the first spot was benign makes Moore less worried about the latest bump, he said. Besides, he added with a shrug, "There's nothing I can do about it."
But Moore, as well as Kirkpatrick, is now more diligent about covering himself. "After this (nose surgery) occurred, I make sure I cover myself when I go play golf," said Moore, a former shirtless gardener and Florida beach vacationer who dons a hat and sunscreen. Kirkpatrick has been an avid swimmer since childhood and used to compete on the Owensboro Country Club team.
"No one loved the sun more than I did when I was a kid," said Kirkpatrick, who used to favor tanning lotion over sunscreen. "The sun is not your friend."
A tan is actually a mild injury to the skin, said Dr. Michael Crowe, a dermatologist with Owensboro Dermatology on New Hartford Road. "A tan is your body's response to ultraviolent radiation," said Crowe, who shakes his head now when recalling his college years at UCLA studying on the beach. Melanoma usually occurs in areas most exposed to sunlight, but "it can show up anywhere," he said. Sunlight was once thought to stimulate the body to produce Vitamin D, but milk and dairy products provide plenty of that for most people in Western countries, Crowe said. For the most part, people now protect themselves well, Crowe said. But some put on sunscreen thinking they can sun longer and be protected, he added. "I think they get a little more (sun) than they would otherwise," Crowe said.
And then there are those who extend the tanning season through migration or indoor tanning. Skin cancer usually shows up in people in their 50's and 60's, especially those who travel to warmer climates in the winter and rural residents who spend a lifetime working outdoors, Crowe said. "We do see them in younger ages now," he said, particularly college-age women in their early 30s who hit the tanning beds in the winter. Crowe attributes that to the combination of tanning beds and sunning outdoors. Fortunately, skin cancer is visibly noticeable, and early detection can often mean a cure, said Kirkpatrick with the been-there knowledge of the formerly ill.
The trouble is, it takes a long time to show up, he said. "It happens when you're a kid and takes 20 or 30 years to show up," Kirkpatrick said. For him, he added, "The bomb was lit in 1970. It's just got a really long fuse.
"The best prevention, other than limited and protected UV exposure, is frequent checking and monitoring of moles, Crowe said. "I think the common denominator for all these cancers...is if you have a growth that is changing, those are all warning signs," he said.
Having melanoma "is a life-changing event. It makes you appreciate every single day," Kirkpatrick said. "Until someone looks you in the eye and says, 'You've got a 30-percent chance to live,' you don't get it."
About Skin Cancer
Most skin cancer is caused by the sun or ultraviolet (UV) light. People who are fair-skinned, easily burned, have red or blond hair and have a family history of skin cancer are the most susceptible.
The three types of skin cancer are:
--Basal cell carcinoma, a raised, reddish or translucent nodule that affects up to 400,000 people a year, according to the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. It rarely spreads, but left untreated, can cause severe local damage.
--Squamous cell carcinoma, which shows up as a red, scaly patch on the ear lobes, face, lips and mouth in as many as 100,000 people a year. It can spread to other parts of the body.
--Melanoma, a malignancy of melanocytes, the cells that produce the skin-darkening protective pigment called melanin. The disease affects only 4 percent of all skin cancer cases but is the leading skin cancer killer. The warning signs of melanoma include spots that are asymmetrical; have ragged or blurred borders; have shades of tan, brown or black; and are wider than six millimeters, or about the size of a pencil eraser.
By David Blackburn
Messenger-Inquirer
