1. Dear 16-year-old me
A brilliantly put-together video for young people warning of the very real dangers of getting melanomas from sunburn.
Here is the link. Send it on to someone you think might need to watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM
5 min duration; viewed by >2.75 m people
A viewer’s comment:
The first time someone tried to show me this, I was thinking “Oh God! It’s 5 mins. long…I’m busy, don’t they know how busy I am?!” But then, I realized how powerful the message was, and how well put together it was! And then, I did check my skin…and then I went to the doctor…and then I had the mole excised (removed) and biopsied, and then diagnosed….and guess what, I have melanoma…so glad someone forced “busy me!” to stop for 5 minutes and save my life!!!
When checking your moles, remember to apply the handy melanoma ABCD rule:
A is for asymmetry: One half looks different from the other
B is for the border: The border of the mole is irregular
C is for the color: The color is uneven and varies from brown to tan to black
D is for diameter: The diameter is greater than 6 mm ( about the diameter of a pencil)
Click here for photos from the American Melanoma Foundation that show what to look for.
