Healthcare | Wednesday 10 June, 2015 1:31 pm |

People at one of the UAE’s most popular beach destinations are to be given hints and tips on skin protection from Mole Talk, an initiative of Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP) run in partnership with Nivea Sun as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

Mole Talk’s skin cancer awareness initiative is taking place this weekend at JBR between 5-7pm on Friday and 4-7pm on Saturday at a stand on the beach near the Sky Dive Centre. Staff comprising medical teams and volunteers will educate the public on how to protect their skin and what to look out for when trying to detect the early signs of skin cancer.

During the two day event this Friday and Saturday, members of the public will be given pamphlets containing vital information on sun safety including but not limited to wearing sunglasses, hats, applying sunscreen with a minimal SPF of +15, and avoiding sun exposure between 10am and 3pm. Members of public will be offered samples of NIVEA sunscreen. The focus of the event is on skin cancer prevention where trained medical personnel will be on hand to answer questions.

Dr. Sawsan Al Madhi, Secretary General of FoCP, said, “Mole Talk seeks to increase awareness of the prevention, early detection, signs and symptoms, and treatment of skin cancer. This time of the year people enjoy going to the beach so it is crucial that they are made aware of how to stay safe in the harsh sun. Our focus is very much on prevention and early detection. It has been proven that skin cancers, found and removed early, are highly curable.”

Mole Talk encourages everyone to check their skin for moles using their five point ABCDE formula. This is: A for asymmetry, do the two halves of your mole don’t look the same? B stands for border, is the edge of the mole blurry or irregular? C is for colour – is your mole more than one colour? D is for diameter – is your mole wider than 6mm? E stands for evolving- does the mole changes in size shape or colour? If the answer is yes to any of the above, have a full clinical check-up.

Al Madhi also says if you see a new growth, or have a painful, itchy or bleeding mole, then you should always get it checked by your doctor. In many cases, there will be nothing to worry about, but early detection is crucial in winning the battle against skin cancer.

“Skin Cancer is preventable, with cure rates as high as 100 percent if detected early. Therefore ensuring people are aware how to stay safe in the sun is of paramount importance. Dr Al Madhi said.

Mole Talk was launched in September last year and focused its initial awareness raising programme on schools in January. During these visits medical teams advised students to follow the ABCDE sun protection formula for sun safety. Mole talk is the fourth and most recent initiative by FOCP under the Kashf program dedicated to raising awareness and early detection of skin cancer. Kashf program runs other awareness initiatives including Pink Caravan for breast cancer, Shanab for prostate and testicular cancer and ANA for childhood cancer.

Skin cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men in the Gulf region and the fifth most common among women. Between two and three million non-melanoma skin cancers and 132,000 melanoma skin cancers occur globally each year and those rates are increasing according to the World Health Organisation. Mole Talk encourages skin cancer screenings as part of regular medical check-ups and people should ask their physician to check for symptoms.