But as we all look forward to better times, one company is urging Britons to be wary about soaking up the sun’s dangerous rays.
LifeJacket Skin Protection is using Melanoma Awareness Month (May) to encourage men to routinely check their bodies after it was revealed males are twice as likely to be suffering from undetected skin cancer than women. And they are recommending an innovative app to help with detection.
‘As a guy, I know that it’s easy to put things off and ignore your skin,’ commented Billy Boulos Lifejacket’s co-founder. ‘If you spend just 10 minutes a month checking your skin… it could save your life.’
In the UK, there are expected to be 165,000 cases of skin cancer in 2021, with nearly one-in-five instances likely to go undiagnosed due to the strain COVID-19 has put on the NHS and daily lives.
The World Health Organisation predicts skin cancer rates are due to explode over the next 20 years, with men nearly twice as likely to die than women.
In a bid to combat the scale of the problem, Lifejacket has unveiled an alliance with SkinVision, whose app it is now endorsing.
‘The drop in the diagnosis of skin cancers during the pandemic is a huge problem and we haven’t felt the impact of it yet,’ added Gavin Matthews of SkinVision. ‘We want this app to help people to accurately check their skin as part of their regular routine.’
SkinVision’s app uses the phone’s camera to take a photo of a skin spot that concerns the user. It works equally well on iphones and android phones, and assesses photographs using clinically validated algorithm.
This means that within 30 seconds of submitting an image, a user receives a risk indication, detailing whether it is recommended to visit a doctor for further examination of the lesion, or to check regularly for any changes.
So, if you spot something on your body, and it wasn’t there the last time you looked, get it checked out. It is easy to find out lots of information about skin cancer. SkinVision’s app will help, but there are lots of other sources out there that will give you information you need to act decisively.
Too many people have died of ignorance. Make sure you are not one of them.
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