According to the American Cancer Society, radiation energy from the sun is called ultraviolet (UV) light. There are three types. UVA is the weakest type, but it can cause DNA damage in your skin leading to skin aging and wrinkles. UVA also causes squamous and basal cell skin cancer, the … Read More
Vitamin D is an important vitamin for health. It helps you absorb calcium from your diet that you need for strong bones. Vitamin D is also important for muscle movement and nerve function, and it helps your immune system stay strong to fight disease. [1-3] Some research suggests that having … Read More
Ever enjoyed popping a pimple? How about poking a blister? It can feel gratifying to watch the grossness ooze out, right? Many people are guilty of picking scabs and some people even eat them afterwards. In fact, our desire to pick our scabs could say something important about our mental … Read More
Skin cancer may seem less threatening than breast, lung, or colon cancers, but if you have the most serious form of skin cancer, melanoma, it can be fatal. A dermatologist can perform a thorough screening of your skin, but between appointments, you need to monitor your skin for signs of … Read More
Finding a lump is frightening—no matter where it is. Swollen lymph nodes are your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong. Usually, they’re alerting you to a mild infection or illness. Once your immune system has fought the pesky invader, your lymph nodes will shrink back to their normal … Read More
The vast majority of prostate cancers originate in the glandular cells of the prostate and are called adenocarcinomas. Prostate cancer is second only to skin cancer as the most common cancer seen in men in the United States. While most men do not die from prostate cancer, it is the … Read More
Jane Murcia and Sara Hogan, MD
More people are upping their hand-washing game now that the CDC and health officials have emphasized that regular hand washing is imperative to helping curb the spread of COVID-19. But there's one step we all tend to forget after washing our hands or applying hand sanitizer – that critical layer … Read More
A relatively easy procedure, blue light therapy has successfully treated multiple conditions, including cancer, actinic keratosis (a type of superficial skin cancer), and acne. More commonly known as photodynamic therapy (PDT), blue light therapy works often as well as surgery or radiation therapy. Plus, it doesn’t cause awful side-effects. What … Read More
Skin problems and skin care (or the lack of it) begin at day one and continue for a lifetime. At no point in time is a person immune to a skin condition that could be life-changing or even life-threatening. Evidence-based medicine tells us three things about skin and skin care. … Read More
Can you die from skin cancer? If you don't know someone in your circle who's been diagnosed and treated from skin cancer, you may have a preconception that skin cancer is treatable 100 percent of the time. But each type of skin cancer carries its own survival risks. Melanoma is … Read More
