(upbeat music) ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪ Hey, hey - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte", a show that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

Tonight we dive into a topic that needs more discussion in the Hispanic community.

Skin cancer.

It's probably no surprise given our consistent sunshine that Arizona has a much higher rate of skin cancer than the national average.

According to 2022 numbers from the American Cancer Society, Arizona's skin cancer rate is at 42.2 per 100,000 in our state, compared to the national average of 29.9.

And Hispanics get skin cancer at a much lower rate than non-Hispanics, with 1 in 200 getting skin cancer as compared to 1 in 33 for non-Hispanic whites.

However, numbers from the National Institute of Health show that skin cancer has increased in Hispanics over the past two decades and Hispanics have a higher mortality rate.

Here to talk more about skin cancer among Hispanic.

and what should be done to prevent it is Dr. Miguel Gonzalez Velez, a melanoma and sarcoma physician at Dignity Health Cancer Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

I'm happy to be here.

- Well, I appreciate you talking with us about skin cancer 'cause I think a lot of us tend to believe that because we tan easier and we burn less, that we're not as susceptible to skin cancer.

The risk, as we mentioned, is lower, but we're seeing this increase in melanoma among Hispanics.

Why is that?

- Yeah, so what you mentioned is correct.

We do have a slightly lower risk, but it has been increasing due to many reasons.

And the most important part is the sun exposure without protection.

Now, we have to understand that most of the Hispanics populations in the US live primarily in south states, which they correlate with high intensity of the sun.

Particularly for Arizona, we have the highest UV, ultraviolet light exposure in all the states in the US, which makes all the skin safety and all the sun safety more important in Arizona, regardless of race and regardless of skin tone.

- And key to all of this is melanoma being the deadliest form of skin cancer and it is actually increasing in the Hispanic community.

So if we have a lower risk and a higher mortality rate when it comes to melanoma, why is that?

- So there are few things and it's that sometimes because most Hispanics have a slightly darker tone, they feel safer and they feel like they don't have to take as much, some precautions, that they don't have to use sunscreen because they don't burn or they don't tan.

But this is a false misconception that some of the Hispanics community have and we have to change this mindset.

Everybody has to be aware of the risk of the sun and they have to do measures and activities to protect themselves from sun.

- And you also need to know what to look for, especially when it comes to melanoma.

What are the symptoms of it?

- So the usual symptoms of melanoma is particularly dark moles or abnormal moles on the skin.

And there's an easy way to remember, which is called the A, B, C, D, E. Which A is for asymmetry, basically weird shape.

B is for borders, C is for color, D is for diameter, how big it is.

And E is for evolution, basically if its changing, you should talk to your primary care doctor or to your dermatologist.

- So this is why getting a skin cancer screening is so important.

Lots of people don't do it though on a regular basis, if at all.

So can you describe the process involved in a skin cancer test and how often we should be getting it?

- Yeah, so it depends according to age and according to the type of skin.

The initial part and the easiest part is kind of like self-examination.

Like before you take a shower, just check for abnormal moles or moles that are changing, or ask a close family member or a close partner to do this.

Or if not, you can ask your primary care or your dermatologist to do a full body exam.

And the usual recommendation, it's about once a year.

- A lot of families don't talk about this enough.

I know when I was growing up, I mean we would slather on baby oil because we would want to tan and I don't really understand that now.

We're already brown, so that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

But how do you get families to start talking about this more and to promote more sunscreen use?

- Yes.

So there is certainly a gap between generations.

And fortunately, things have changed in the last few decades because we have more knowledge and a little bit more consciousness about sun safety.

So the easiest way is to make sun safety a habit.

It's something that you include in your normal day, which is basically trying to use sunscreen every day regardless if you're going out or if you are indoors.

'Cause another misconception is that you only need sunscreen when you're out in the sun, but especially in states like Arizona, just going to a grocery store, just driving from the car to work, and even the indoor lights have some degree of UV light.

So that's why I say that using sunscreen every day and getting into that habit is the easiest way to develop this habit of being careful and taking care of your skin.

- Well, I think that I, for one, have noticed, you know, I have spots on my left arm more so on my right because that's the side that gets hit from the sun when I'm driving.

And so people don't even realize you can develop these issues just from driving in your car.

- Yes.

Just walking in the park, driving, and just by walking outside even for short periods of time, it can develop the chronic skin changes.

And the other important thing is that these habits need to be developed early in life because as you're saying, we pay the price of early sun exposure in our adult years.

- Yes.

I'm sure a lot of those spots that I'm seeing are from years ago that are just now materializing.

Right?

- [Doctor] Correct.

- That we're noticing.

So when you're talking about melanoma specifically and someone is diagnosed with melanoma, how is it treated and what kind of a difference does it make if it's caught early?

- Yeah, so there are basically three different treatments for melanoma, which is surgery, radiation, and then systemic treatments like immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

And the benefits of finding it early is that you need smaller surgeries.

So with less reconstruction.

And if it's caught early, you won't need any of the systemic, sometimes scary treatments that people have like chemotherapy or immunotherapy.

So in general, in cancer, including melanoma, there is an incentive for finding it as early as we can.

- I read according to the Melanoma Research Alliance that the rates of melanoma are rising rapidly, especially in younger people.

Why the younger population?

- So it is still unclear in the academic societies.

We don't know if it's a real epidemic or a real increase or if also it's an increase in the consciousness that people are looking for more help.

And then they were doing more testing and more biopsies.

So that's still an open-ended question.

But we think that it's because the sun is, people are not taking as much measures to protect themselves from the sun.

- So how do we get our community more educated on taking those precautions, using sunscreen, going and getting regular screenings?

How in your opinion, do we go about doing that?

- So there are basically two different ways of doing it.

One is focusing on the positive reinforcement, as I mentioned.

The habit of using protection, long sleeves, sunglasses, hats, mechanical protections, and using sunscreen every day.

And the other one is what you were referring, which is more like the negative reinforcement, using a little bit of fear.

Because sun is not also associated with melanoma, but also like wrinkles and dark spots.

So looking into a little bit of the fear or the vanity of people saying, okay, if you protect yourself from the sun, you're gonna have less wrinkles in a few years.

So using a little bit of the positives and a little bit of the negatives, it can help.

- Well, it definitely can help.

And we certainly appreciate you joining us here on "Horizonte" because this helps as well, having you educate our audience about what needs to be done to protect ourselves from skin cancer.

So thank you so much for joining us, doctor.

- Thank you.

- Really appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

- And that does it for our show for tonight.

Thanks so much for watching "Horizonte".

Until next time, have a great night.

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