Get an annual checkup
Annual visits to your dermatologist are a good way to keep track of skin changes. These changes are where skin cancer shows up, so they need to be checked out when they turn up. “Often what may look like a non-healing pimple or a normal mole to a novice may in fact be skin cancer,” says Dr. Angela Lamb, associate professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “The key is that skin cancer can look very harmless if you do not know what to look for.”
Wear sunblock every day and reapply
Just because it’s cloudy doesn’t mean you should ditch the sunscreen – UV radiation can still filter through the cloud cover and cause damage to your skin. “If exercising or in the water, sunscreen should be reapplied every 20 minutes.
Reapplication is particularly important when UV index is the highest, which is usually between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” says Dr. Hooman Khorasani, a skin cancer surgeon and chief of the division of Dermatologic and Cosmetic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dermatologists recommend a broad spectrum water-resistant sunscreen with both UVA and UVB protection and an SPF of at least 30.
