‘Healthy Skin’ tour makes Houma stop

The Skin Cancer Foundation’s Road to Healthy Skin Tour makes its way to Houma today, offering free, full-body skin cancer screenings to local residents.

A 38-foot, customized RV will stop at the Rite Aid at 5953 W. Park Ave. in Houma from 10 a.m. to noon. Dr. Sarah Haydel, a local board-certified dermatologist, will conduct cancer screenings.

More than 1 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed nationally each year. If detected early, skin cancer is the most preventable, curable form of the disease.

“Many people don’t know that they should get a yearly skin exam. The goal of this tour is to educate the public about skin cancer and encourage people to schedule regular skin screenings,” Perry Robins, president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, said in a release. “Caught in the early stages, skin cancer is almost always curable.”

By the tour’s end this fall, more than 10,000 people will have been tested for skin cancer, he noted.

The cancer screenings include tests for:

• Actinic keratosis (AK) which affects more than 10 million Americans each year. It is the most common type of pre-cancerous skin lesion and, if left untreated, can lead to squamous cell carcinoma.

• Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC), which the most common form of skin cancer, which affects more than 1 million Americans annually.

• Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), or squamous cell carcinoma, which generally spreads quickly. More than 250,000 Americans yearly contract the disease.

• Melanoma – the most serious form of skin cancer – which is increasing in incidence faster than almost any other cancer. More than 60,000 new cases are detected yearly. The disease claims approximately 8,000 people in the U.S. annually. However, when diagnosed and removed early, melanoma is usually curable.

Robins said the Skin Cancer Foundation is the first organization in the U.S committed to educating the public and medical professionals about sun safety. Its mission is to decrease the incidence of skin cancer through public and professional education and research.

For more information, call 1-800-SKIN-490.