Skin cancer mole picture

It was a case of making a mountain out of a mole--or so it may have seemed to Shaun Hughes, as the doctor examined the mole on his back for cancer. Just three months earlier, another physician had assured Hughes he was the "picture of health."

And why not? Hughes was 26 years old, a wind surfer and skier, and his future had endless possibilities when he finished Harvard Business School, where he was entering his second year.

"There's nothing wrong with your mole," the doctor said. "But let me make sure."

Hughes had only consented to the physical examination to please his friend, Nancy Leddy, who'd been dealing with malignant melanoma--skin cancer. She'd spotted his suspicious mole one day while they were swimming. That he might have skill cancer was an impossible idea to Hughes. He'd grown up in Seattle--rainy Seattle--and while he'd maintained the California boy bronzed look during the summers, he surely wasn't exposed to much sun during the region's long, wet winters.

But suddenly Hughes' life changed when the doctor began examining another mole. After a moment, he said, "It's malignant."

The mole was a textbook example of melanoma: large, and without a defining edge or consistent color. The doctor told Hughes he would have been dead within the year, had Leddy not insisted on the exam. That was on a Friday. The next Tuesday surgeons at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York completely removed the malignancy.

Hughes survived, but Leddy didn't. In 1984, a year after his surgery, She lost her battle with cancer. She was just 35. "Nancy was a star, a guiding light for so many people with her boundless energy," Hughes says.

sun's up

Hughes' experience led him to create Sun Precautions, Inc., which he started in Everett, Wash., in 1990. The company designs fashionable clothing and accessories to protect people from the sun's skin-damaging rays.

Understandably, Hughes--who remains cancer-free--feels sympathy with others who have reason to fear solar radiation. "They huddle in the back of cars, shop for groceries at night," he says. "They live the life of the forgotten. Sun Precautions lets them emerge from the shadows."

A sampling of cruelty-free, all-natural skin care products to ensure safe sunning.

Aubrey Herbal Sunblock aubrey-organics.com

Cellex-C Sun Care Sun Sports Protection Cream cellexc.com

Jason Sunbrellas Sport Stick jason-natural.com

Naturade Aloe Vera 80 800.367.2880

Nature's Gate Sunblock Lotion levlad.com

Peter Thomas Roth Titanium Dioxide Sunblock peterthornasroth.com

Skinceuticals Daily Defense SPF 30 (and 45) cream skinceuticals.com

Sun Precautions Solumbra SPF Protective Clothing sunprecautions.com

SunSwipe Inc, Sun Screen Towelette sun-swipes.com

Younger You Day Moisture SPF 25 nutra-lift.com

sunscreen

With 1 million new cases reported annually, skin cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer in the United States. It's the second most common form of cancer in women ages 25 to 35, after breast cancer. A report from the National Cancer Institute says 40 to 50 percent of Americans who reach age 65 will develop the cancer at least once.

In part because of statistics like these, the US Food and Drug Administration finalized its standards for sun protection in 1978, and now all sun-care products--whether lotions or clothing and accessories--carry a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) number. The SPF scale originally ranged front 2 to 15, but now it's common to see numbers greater than 50.

The SPF number applies primarily to UV-B rays--one of three types of ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and the one that burns the skin. The number refers to a multiple of the amount of time you can spend in the sun without burning. Since not everyone has the same tolerance to sun exposure, SPF ratings are individualized. If you normally burn in 30 minutes without some form of sun protection, a sun-care product with an SPF rating of 20 will protect you for 10 hours (30 minutes multiplied by 20 SPF, or 600 minutes of protection).

The season, the time of day and your location can all affect the rate at which your skin will burn, however. For instance, the potential for sun exposure on a July afternoon in Seattle is going to be considerably less than it would be on a July afternoon in Death Valley. So the amount of protection you receive from a certain SPF rating will vary accordingly.

Robert Sayre, PhD, who was involved in the earliest testing phases of sunscreen lotions at Coppertone in the 1970s, says that sun protection products--primarily lotions--have come a long way since then. Sayre remembers testing one of those early lotions, which completely washed away after one minute under running water. Now, Sayre says, there are products you can wear that will give you all-day protection, even under water.

"People just have to remember to apply them before they go out in the sun," Sayre says.