Summer officially started June 20 and while this time of the year brings vacations and additional time outdoors, it also brings additional risks.
Summer is when the sun's ultraviolet rays are the most intense, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Ultraviolet rays are one of the key risk factors in developing melanoma, or skin cancer, said Dr. Johnie Rose, associate professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Beyond this being a particularly dangerous time of the year, Northeast Ohio residents face greater risks from skin cancer, he said. According to the medical school's Population Cancer Analytics Shared Resource, which Rose directs, residents here develop skin cancer at a 14% higher rate and die from the cancer at a nearly 10% higher rate than the national average.
While the reason for these higher rates is not clear yet, one factor could be the demographics of Northeast Ohio, Rose said.
"Some of the issue with elevated incidents can also be differences in the racial distribution of our population," he said. "Fair-skinned people get more cancer. In Northeast Ohio, well, in Ohio generally, we do have more white people than in the nation."
Meanwhile, a lack of education about vulnerability to melanoma or skin cancer among people of color is what places them at greater risk, Rose said.
“The thing about melanoma in Black individuals and any individual of color is that they're still at risk, and these cancers in people of color are diagnosed later, and therefore often tend to be more fatal,” he said.
It's not just the medical community that's uneducated on the risks from melanoma for communities of color — it's the communities themselves, said Yvonka Hall, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition.
"It's important to understand that African Americans have been told for a long time that they don't get skin cancers," she said. "I remember hearing people talk about it when I was young, that they would say, well, you're African American, so you don't have a risk for skin cancer, so you don't have to put on a sunscreen. We're making sure that we tell people differently — that African Americans do have a risk and that they do need to put on sunscreen."
Education also includes an understanding that early signs of skin cancer in people of color may show up in places not found in white patients, like under fingernails, on the palms of hands and soles of feet, Rose said.
Other early signs of skin cancer to watch for are mole-like lesions that would be large and/or irregular and growing. If you see something like this, immediately schedule an appointment with your primary care provider, he advised.
These moles might look different for African Americans, Hall added.
"Our skin cancers... our tags may be different than other people because of our skin," she said. "You may have a dark thing that looks like a sore and it's actually not a sore, but cancer."
Rose recommended several steps to protect from the sun's rays, including: using sunscreen — SPF 30 or higher; staying out of direct sunlight whenever possible, especially during the peak hours for ultraviolet rays, which are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and covering up your skin, including wearing a hat.
The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center has been partnering with the Lorain County Metro Parks and the City of Lorain to provide SPF 30 and higher sunscreen in freestanding dispensers and kiosks throughout the city and its parks to help reduce sunburns.
