Summer, Dermatologists: “After the Holidays, Check Moles but on Untanned Skin”

Prolonged exposure to the sun’s rays is the main risk factor for skin cancer, the third most common in Italy among under-50s. “For this reason, when you return from vacation, it is a good idea to check your moles, especially for those who didn’t do so before the summer, even if they have to wait for the tan to fade. With a tan, in fact, even the mole darkens and could seem ‘suspicious’ when in reality it is not”. This was stated to Adnkronos Salute by Giuseppe Argenziano, president of the Italian Society of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Sidemast), according to whom “with the warm season it is easier to notice moles or pigmented lesions on our skin that had remained hidden during the winter and we had never seen or that we did not remember having that type of morphological characteristics”.

Obviously “moles should be monitored all year round – underlines Argenziano, who is a full professor of Dermatology at the University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’ – and the mapping should be done once every 12 months, preferably before the warm season. Especially if you have many moles, if one or more of them have a diameter greater than 6 mm, if you have noticed the appearance of new moles and if you notice that an old mole is changing, if you have a family history of skin cancer, if you have giant congenital nevi and if you notice changes in moles during pregnancy”.

With dark or light skin, it makes no difference: those with many moles “must pay maximum attention – warns the president of Sidemast – exposing themselves to the sun’s rays early in the morning and no later than 11 am and in the afternoon after 5 pm, the usual times for children, applying the sunscreen most suited to their phototype”. Also watch out for melasma, a common skin condition characterized by brown or gray-brown spots that appear on the face in irregular patches, caused not only by hormonal changes. “Exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays stimulates the production of melanin in the skin. Prolonged or excessive exposure without adequate protection causes melasma. Therefore, as soon as you return from vacation it is a good idea to undergo a check-up with a dermatologist”, he concludes.