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Mammograms VS. Thermograms For Breast Health
Mammograms vs. Thermograms for breast health. Have you ever had a mammogram? Have you ever had a thermogram? If you are over the age of 40 and female I am sure you have had a mammogram. A mammogram is the GOLD STANDARD for the mainstream, medical community for detecting breast 
cancer. It entails a visit to the radiation department of your doctor’s office or hospital and you are led into a room where your breasts, one at a time, is squeezed between two metal plates and an x-ray is taken. The image is then read by a technician in another room. If anything suspicious is seen then more x-rays are taken and you are told that your doctor will call you with the results. Sometimes your doctor will request that you also have an ultrasound. If your tests are still unclear the next step is a needle biopsy or an operation to remove the lump called an lumpectomy. If it looks very concerning to the surgeon, the patient will be prepped before the operation that if the lump proves to be cancerous she can elect to have an mastectomy instead of just a lumpectomy. Can you image the STRESS this causes a women?!
(From http://www.thermographyonline.com/) Disclaimer: Thermography is utilized as an adjunctive imaging proce
dure only and, as such, is not a replacement for or alternative to any other form of imaging. Since thermography only detects heat at the surface of the body, the technology cannot see into the cranial vault, thoracic or pelvic cavities, or deep into the body to visualize organs or bones. All thermography reports are meant to identify thermal emissions that suggest potential risk markers only and do not in any way suggest a diagnosis or treatment. Since a diagnosis cannot be made from an infrared image, thermal markers must be correlated by the patient’s treating physician with additional testing and procedures before a final diagnosis can be made.
Years ago I went in for my routine mammogram. I hated the entire experience. First, my anxiety level goes up when I just make the appointment because I fear what they will find. Then the actually experience of having your delicate breast tissue squished between two cold, metal plates can be painful and damaging in my opinion. If a suspicious spot is found then you will have to go through a number of addition x-rays causing more STRESS. The last time I had a suspicious area by a mammogram technician I had to position my body in several awkward positions for many different images of my right breast to be taken. All I was thinking was:
- This is uncomfortable.
- I am scared.
- How much additional HARMFUL x-rays and I getting pointed directly at my breast?
- Do I have CANCER?!
After that whole mess, I was sent home after I was told a doctor would review my images. Great! Now I get to go home and worry if I have cancer or not. Terrifying!
The next day my doctor called me saying that they needed MORE breast images so I had to go back in a for more x-rays. Are you kidding me? I did and no definitive answer was given so I was sent to have an ultrasound. At the ultrasound the suspicious area was measured and to my horror the technician practically snapped my head off when I asked her a simple question.
Back to my doctor’s office, she said that the suspicious area was determined to be a cyst, BUT she recommended that I see a surgeon and have the cyst aspirated so the cells could be examined under a microscope to see if it contained any precancerous cells. I sat in her office as she made the call to the surgeon’s office to schedule an appointment for me. I guess the receptionist on the other end of the phone asked if I was nervous because my doctor looked at me and asked me if I was nervous. By this time honestly I was no longer nervous because I had crossed over to PISSED. Are you serious? This is bull! The x-rays, the manipulation as my doctor tried to find the lump, the wait for the next appointment, the wait, wait, wait. I was beyond nervous and way into…this is just so irritating.
I did go to the surgeon’s appointment many days later, and the doctor did another ultrasound and determined that it was a cyst that would probably go away in a few months. If I wanted him to aspirate it (long needle into the breast) he would do so. I elected to come back in three months for another ultrasound. And in three months…the cyst was gone. Whew!
May I say, the entire process was HELL and I vowed to never go through that rigamarole again.That was my LAST mammogram to date. I decided to find an alternative way to monitor my breasts without the x-rays and without the squish of breast tissue. I found thermography. Thermography takes a image of your breasts and determines if there is anything suspicious by heat activity. A cancerous area will give off more heat than the rest of tissue and will show up on the image as a white spot. White being the hottest, red is warm showing inflammation, and blue is what you want to see. Go here for a better explanation. HERE
My appointment was in Sarasota, FL with Rita Rimmer, Certified Clinical Thermographer at Health Imaging. Rita was wonderful, friendly, and knowledgeable. She does the thermogram in a calm and quiet room with tranquil music playing softly in the background. I was told to take my shirt and bra off (Rita didn’t approve of my under-wire bra which restricts the lymph nodes.) and she aims the thermography camera/device at your breasts about 3 feet from where you sit and snaps via computer many pictures. While she is taking the pictures you can at the same time view the images on her computer screen, and she explains what is going on internally with your breast. Excellent! Much better than the ultrasound technician that snapped my head off.
(Source: From Rita Rimmer’s webpage) Thermography, although widely used in Europe and Australia, is beginning to make a comeback in the United States in the form of Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI).
DITI is more sensitive than previous thermographic technology and new digital thermal cameras are much smaller, more reliable, and significantly less expense than industrial cameras used in the 1970’s.
DITI is 100% safe, painless and requires no harmful radiation.
A Canadian Breast Cancer Screening Study demonstrated that thermography, when used in conjunction with mammography, can detect up to 95% of breast cancers.
I saw blue, yellow, green and red areas, 
and the red was mostly around where the wire of my bra was just pressing against. Rita explained to me this is a sign of inflammation and explained what bras would be better for me to wear. She also explained that a thermogram will indicate a cancer/hot spot 10 years before it will show up on a mammogram. Rita gave me a lot of knowledge that day, and I am forever thankful to her for that. She relieved me from so much stress about whether I was going to find a cancerous lump the next time I did a breast self-examine or had a mammogram. In fact, I have never had another mammogram again and my family doctor is fine with that. Unfortunately, my health insurance does not cover the thermography and that is okay with me. I have no problem paying for it which at this time is over $100.00 but well worth it in my opinion. I think it reveals a lot more than a mammogram and knowledge is power. There are some health insurance plans that will cover it and I check from time to time to see if my personal plan has changed and will cover thermograms.
The traditional medical community has treated thermography as they did chiropractic care 20 years ago. They are not convinced it is reliable and they still rely on mammograms as the main diagnostic tool. For people who still want to have a mammogram I would recommend having both. I personally have friends who have had mammograms that have missed the cancer for years. (It is said that it takes 10 years for cancer to develop.) A thermogram can detect cancer 10 years before a mammogram.
Lets talk about what kind of radiation you receive from a mammogram.
General questions and comments on radiation risk
In large doses, radiation can cause serious tissue damage and increase a person’s risk of later developing cancer. The low doses of radiation used for imaging tests might increase a person’s cancer risk slightly, but it’s important to put this risk into perspective.
Point here, there is no minimum level of radiation that does not cause cancer. And to focus the radiation on your delicate breast tissue every year or two years…I will pass.
In conclusion, I determined that mammograms were not for me for the following reasons:
- Risk of cancer being caused by the radiation no matter how small the dose.
- Uncomfortable pain and pressure from the test.
- Unreliable results.
- False positives or positives false.
- The coldness of the entire process and the lack of communication.
- The waiting process for results.
- Having to go in for more tests and more x-rays for accurate diagnosis.
I am pro thermograms because:
- Same day results. (Your images are sent away for a professional review, too.)
- Personal interaction with the thermographer.
- You are given images for your personal records.
- No pain, no radiation.
- A clear explanation of your breast health and how to improve.
There are a couple of places to have a thermogram in the Sarasota area and if you Google thermography in your area you will most likely find one close to you. I recommend that you talk to your OBYGN or family doctor about whether to have a thermogram. Some are against it and some will recommend having both. As I said before, my doctors accept thermography and have no problem with me skipping the mammograms. I know some health practitioners reject thermograms and in some extreme cases insist that you have a mammogram every two years or they will not have you as a patient. Okay, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
“Tell her Terry Ryan sent you! 941-330-9318”
If you decide to make an appointment with Rita Rimmer, here is her link at Health Imaging and please tell her Terry Ryan sent you. She is an awesome educator and I have tremendous respect for her, and thank her for making me feel more secure about my breast health.
Thank you for reading,
Terry Ryan, Health Blogger
Terry Ryan
Rita Rimmer, Clinical Thermographer Technician
Rita Rimmer’s FB page: https://www.facebook.com/rita.rimmer.3?fref=ts
Book on Thermography
Addicited to Being Sick
I had a older relative who always complained. She complained about her husband, her children, her lack of money and therefore, she was a miserable person. I was just a child but innocently thought that one day, and I was sure, soon she would find eternal happiness. I just assumed that people who complained wanted desperately something to change in their life, and they would somehow make the situation better. But sadly, my relative never found happiness and went to the grave a sad and lonely person. It took me years to realized, she was addicted to complaining. She didn’t want to find a solution. She loved the attention she received while complaining, the squeaky wheel. I leaned that there are just some people who like to WHINE! ”
The same thing happens to SOME people who have chronic diseases. They go to their doctors and complain about not feeling well, BUT then they don’t listen to what steps the doctor tells them to take or do not take their medicine as directed, etc. However, they come back to their doctor still complaining about not feeling better. Can you imagine the frustration the doctor feels?
I also see a lot of this on Facebook. The constant complaining on the chronic disease groups. They seem to be satisfied in complaining but never take sage advice from the group or from their doctors. For example; one tidbit of advice frequently espoused is to give up gluten. Autoimmune disease symptoms will be alleviated to a certain extent by eliminating gluten from a patient’s diet, however, this is an impossibility for many of the people in the group. Therefore, they find no relief and continue to complain. I call this ADDICTED TO BEING SICK! Of course there are people who SWEAR they are abstaining from gluten and still say they have debilitating symptoms. I know some personally that say they do but in actuality do not eliminate gluten 100% (yes, there is gluten in pizza crust). They think they can get by from only reducing gluten from their diet 50%, and so they complain it’s not working. Give up sugar? Impossible! Give up my nightly glass of wine? No way! Life is not worth living without ALCOHOL! Okay, point taken but
don’t complain about your autoimmune disease.
My uncle was in the hospital a long time ago having just experienced a heart attack and the doctor told him that he was going to have to change his diet and give up salt. My uncle grumbled that life wouldn’t be worth living without salt and he wasn’t going to change his diet. What? He would rather die than give up salt? He ate as he wished and soon afterwards had another heart attack and passed away.
I recently saw a couple of friends that both have R.A. (rheumatoid arthritis). They are the same age (52) and female. Kate lived across the street from me when I was in high school, and Angela and I were good friends in our much younger days when we were both single and loved socializing at the local pubs. I remember clearly when Angela was diagnosed with crippling R.A. She had just gotten over strep throat and she got up one morning and the bottom of her feet hurt. This progressed quickly into aching joints and swollen fingers. Her doctor referred her to a rheumatologist who ran some blood tests and gave her the sad news, R.A. Angela suffered for years and was prescribed different powerful drugs with terrible side effects. We drifted apart as I moved away for my employment but I recall a mutual friend telling me that Angela had to soak in a hot tub each morning just to be able to move with a little less pain.
This past summer, I was visiting my mother’s home when I saw Kate across the street walking with a
R.A.
cane. I went over to say hi and was shocked at her physical condition. Her R.A. had progressed to the point that she was now no longer able to work and she looked 20 years older than her actual age. She complained about the ongoing pain and suffering. How horrible! However, when I met up with Angela later that same week I expected to see her in the same condition as Kate, but she amazingly looked like the picture of health! She also had a wonderful outlook about her health. What was Angela doing differently than Kate? Angela was eating simple and clean. What does that mean? That means no sugar, no gluten, easy on the carbohydrates, no alcohol, and she does it practically 100%. “Oh, I may have a couple of bites of birthday cake if I am at a party but it doesn’t really appeal to me,” said Angela.
Angela is off all medications and her lab tests are showing that her R.A. is in remission. I asked her if it happened overnight. “No, it was in small increments. I didn’t rush it. I let the process make small shifts in my health.”
She said that she had met with Kate (they went to high school together) to talk to her about cleaning up her diet but Kate was resistant and had given up the idea that she was ever going to get any better. She couldn’t believe that something as easy as eating a diet of no sugar or gluten was going to change anything. Kate was hooked on the idea that someday a prescription was going to be approved by the F.D.A. for R.A. and that was going to be her cure.
One noticeable difference between the two: Kate is whining about her disease and Angela is not. Kate is going with the flow (which is downhill) and Angela is proactive about her disease. Which would you rather be?
Terry Ryan
That has been my observation on Facebook. I took some months off from Facebook and was rather surprised to see that the people who were whining or complaining when I logged off were STILL whining/complaining when I got back on a few months later. What? Nothing had changed. I even had offered my Hashimoto’s Disease book for free to the FB groups and many had downloaded the book. Surprisingly, I think only a few people had actually read the book which goes into detail about the steps to take to “cure” your autoimmune disease. If they had, they would have a lot more knowledge about how to manage their disease. So, I have come to the conclusion, they are addicted to being sick.
Are you addicted to being sick or would you rather stop complaining and do something that has a positive affect? Here is some helpful links.
Click here for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and other autoimmune diseases in ebook.
https://www.facebook.com/thyroidsupport
http://www.thyroidlifestyle.com/
Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan is a health blogger and has Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease.
I Did The No Poo Shampoo and I liked it!
I did the no shampoo and I liked it, more commonly know as the NO POO shampoo. What is it? It is using baking soda (the kind you put in your refrigerator to soak up the evil smells) and Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV). Why would you wash your hair with banking soda and ACV? Because typical store-bought shampoos have chemical in them that are not good for you. Things like:
BPA: Can mimic the effects of the hormone estrogen which signals the body to store fat.
Parabens: Can lead to diminished muscle mass, extra fat storage, and male breast growth.
Gluten: If you are gluten sensitive you could be having an inflammatory reaction to these chemicals which can cause you to bloat up (others develop rashes, acne or have headaches)
Why do shampoo companies use nasty chemical in their products? BPA is actually the chemicals that come from the plastic bottles. It has been on DO NOT USE list for many years. Oh please bring back glass bottles. Parabens are used to prevent the growth of microbes in cosmetics products and can be absorbed through skin, blood and the digestive system. Parabens have been found in biopsies from breast tumors at concentrations similar to those found in consumer products and parabens may be found in a wide variety of products including shampoos, lotions, deodorants, scrubs and eye makeup, and are found in nearly all urine samples from U.S. adults regardless of ethnic, socioeconomic or geographic backgrounds. (source: http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=291)
“Gluten is the new “bad boy” in food and causes a host of digestive problems in people, even people who do not test positive for celiac disease.”
Gluten is the new bad boy in food and causes a host of digestive problems in people, even people who do not test positive for celiac disease. What is the devil protein causing this? Gliadin. Gluten (more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten) gives bread its elasticity that is why gluten-free breads are usually dry and fall apart, at least the gluten-free bread that I make. I particular have to avoid gluten because it is an inflammatory and I am trying to avoid inflammation in my system as much as I can. And as you know, anything we put on our skin has the same effect as eating it. So even though we are not consuming the shampoos, it’s just as bad because we are putting it our skin (or in our hair) and our skin is a GIANT SPONGE!
So, back to my own NO POO shampoo. My hair is pretty frizzy and after I shampoo I have to bow dry and then flat iron to get the frizz out. Ugh! Shampooing my hair with baking soda and ACV was going to take a lot of guts as I seem to be dependent on expensive, salon purchased shampoos. Anyway, I jumped in the shower with a box of baking soda and a ice cold bottle of ACV. I wet my hair and grabbed a handful of baking soda and threw it on top of my head and tried to massage it into my scalp through my ends as best as I could. I cannot say it felt good and I missed the suds because to me nothing says CLEAN like suds. Did my hair feel like it was getting clean? Heck no!
After a few minutes of rubbing the baking soda into my hair I rinsed and mixed about a 1/3 cup of ACV with warm water in a measuring cup and poured it over my head, and rinsed again. It did immediately feel like my hair was slicker and that I got a lot of the build-up off my shafts (build-up from products) however, not slick enough to get a comb through so I did resort to a conditioner as a final step, and rinse again.
After I got out of the shower and combed my wet hair I was thinking, meh…not so impressed. I then let my hair air dry because it was late and I was too tired for the whole blow dry and flat iron thing, and I put a towel on my pillow and went to bed with damp hair knowing that I would have to rewash my hair in the morning to style. But, hello, the next morning I got up and felt my hair: dry and smooth. I looked in the bathroom mirror and was shocked to see hair that was shiny and looking fantastic. I had no need to do anything. It was a miracle in hair miracles! Eureka!
I checked out some Youtube videos and some people swear by the No Poo shampoo and there are some that says it dries your hair out and it causes more CO2 into the atmosphere (what?!), and some people said to mix the banking soda into water first before putting it on your hair, etc.
To test that this smooth and shiny hair wasn’t just a fluke, I decided to wash my hair with Sauve Clarifying Shampoo. I saw some positive reviews on that particular shampoo and I wanted to see if it was as good at eliminating build-up of products on my hair. Next shampoo time I washed my hair with the Suave and used the same conditioner I used when I did the NO POO process and then I again air dried. FAIL! Super fail! Ugh! A rat’s nest of hair.
So, in conclusion, will I use the NO POO way of washing my hair? Absolutely! But don’t take my word for it. Do your own hairy experiment. Grab of box of baking soda and Braggs (Can you use regular apple cider vinegar? Probably. Maybe.) Apple Cider Vinegar and head for the shower. Good luck! Let me know what you think.
Thank you for reading!
Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan
Hashimoto’s Is Not Stopping Jen!
Hashimoto Thyroiditis is Not Stopping Jen!
One of my best friends, Jen, who has known me since we cruised the night clubs together many years ago, also has Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. If you don’t already know, I have been battling Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a debilitating autoimmune disease, for ten years now and have written a book, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, after I was getting nowhere with traditional medical care and started my own research. 
(Frustrating!) However, unlike me, Jen has been doing extremely well with dealing with her autoimmune disease. She is able to work at a very demanding job, jogs/runs almost every day, does volunteer work, makes her own wine, and travels for fun to exotic places. I was absolutely shocked this summer when instead of meeting up with her old gal pals in Upstate New York she changed her plans and met another friend to go hiking in Peru. (Here is the trip Jen took.Click Here ) Okay, she sent her husband and son as substitutes, and we did have a great time with them, but nevertheless, it wasn’t Jen. What shocked me even more than Jen picking Machu Picchu over us, is that she has 
Hashimoto’s disease and she can hike for a week in Peru!!! We talked on the phone yesterday and her description of the chaotic and miserable flights to Peru from San Francisco would have put me in the hospital but she handled it with no problem. Heck, I am jealous!
Upstate NY
So, what is Jen doing that is different from the rest of the Hashimoto’s sufferers that allows her to have a normal life? I asked her probing questions as in what are you eating? What time do you go to bed? Jen says she stays away from gluten, sugar, and processed foods. I know this for a fact because years ago we were boating and came across some friends barbecuing on an island and I, dragging friends along, self-invited us to the barbecue. They were serving hotdogs, and there is nothing better than a grilled hotdog on an island in the middle of a lake on a summer day. I dove into mine but Jen turned hers down. I looked at her in shock as in how-could-you but she said, and I quote, “I don’t eat that kind of stuff.”
Now this was years before I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s so I was totally perplexed by that statement, but then again, I was blissfully living a life that was healthy even though I was eating and drinking anything I wanted with no ill effects. Jen had already been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and I had no idea what she was dealing with. Unfortunately, I was soon to find out. No, it’s not contagious but it is happening in epidemic proportions. I used to joke that I could start a thyroid support group because so many of my friends had thyroid problems. We compare what medicine we are taking and the dosages. I am taking 135 mcg of Tirosint and Cytomel. Most of my friends are on Synthroid. So why are so many (mostly women) suffering from autoimmune disease such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis? We seem to be way ahead of the curve as far as other countries. My friends from England say that they know no one with Hashimoto’s and I have heard this is true in other countries, so the USA must be doing something differently. Some say it is the food we are eating. All the BGH (bovine growth hormones), the GMO’s, the fast foods, and I guess you could say the substandard foods that we are consuming in abundance. However, there are a lot of people who are consuming crappy food (excuse my language) and seem to be doing okay, and how I envy them. Then there are they thyroid experts that say that there is a genetic propensity that has to be present too for thyroid disease. Is that it? I have a genetic maker that makes me more prone to disease?
Jen said that she believes it is important to exercise and to keep busy. I too have tried to exercise with 
disastrous results as in having stay in bed for three days after 18 holes of golf. What I have is called post-exertion exhaustion as my body cannot recover quickly from exercise. On good days I can walk around the block but on bad days I have a tough time making it out to the mailbox. Hiking the Andes would definitely not be something I can do. Also, working a full-time job is something I am many other Hashimoto’s patients cannot do and I noticed in the Facebook support groups that some are on disability. Most of us drag ourselves through the day. I feel sorry for younger women who have Hashimoto’s disease as they have young families and are trying to do it all, as they were doing before being diagnosed. How they cope, I do not know? As far as keeping busy I do keep a pretty full schedule. I take care of an aging parent, a large house, multiple real estate holdings, and blogging websites for kicks. Sometimes when I am feeling good for a length of time, I will take on more obligations or projects only to realize I was taking on too much when I have what we Hashimoto’s sufferers call, a relapse. When that occurs I feel like lying in bed all day but I push myself to do as many chores or errands I can do that particular day. Compared to what I used to accomplish, it is now a dismal amount. I have learned to accept my physical limitations but vowed to research and try different remedies until I find a “cure.” Until then I will take one day at a time and hope for a better tomorrow.
Some things to consider:
Enzyme replacement
D3 supplements
Eliminate SUGAR!
Skip alcohol
Reduce coffee
Meditate
Understand your disease. Read my book. Click Here
Thanks for reading!
Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan
The Skinny on Skin! by Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan and sister-in-laws
They have been warning us for years…the skin police. Don’t go outside without SPF50 on your skin. Blah, blah, blah. Where were they when I was pouring iodine into the baby oil and slathering it on my body to enhance the perfect burn? Nowhere, that’s were they were. Now I look at the skin of my peers who all used to lay on the Million Dollar Beach and burn until our skin peeled off in sheets. Some of them are wrinkled and some not so wrinkled. Hey, they said we would be wrinkled, old prunes by the time we turned 60. As I now gaze into the gorgeous tanned skin of one of my BFF’s whose lazy, summer days are spend floating around her pool with absolutely no sunscreen on I say “ha!” to all the experts.
What I am most happy about is that my generation was not berated into using mass quantities of sunscreen with god knows what ingredients. Yikes! I personally am more afraid of slathering chemicals on my skin than sitting out in the sun. However, I don’t sit out in the sun anymore because I believe pale is the new tan. Yeah, you heard me. I like not having tan lines.
Last year I went to my husband’s dermatologist for an itchy spot on my shoulder which proved to be 
harmless and she called it something I can’t even repeat. She did say, “You have amazing skin.” So, here we are, two different specimens who have great skin: me and my BFF sunning in the pool. What separates us from the rest of the population who have not so nice skin? Is it genes alone or did we do something different way back then?
In spite of drug store shelves lined with sunscreen products, skin cancer is on the rise. (Here is a good place to look up the facts. http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts) When I was in high school and college, nobody ever died from skin cancer. Now, I hear sad stories of friends of friends or their relatives dying from skin cancer, mostly the dreaded melanoma: the mother of all skin cancers.
Here is a list of all the skin cancers you have should be knowledgeable of:
Types of Skin Cancer
(source: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/skin/page4)
Skin cancers are named for the type of cells that become malignant (cancer). The three most common types are:
- Melanoma: Melanoma begins in melanocytes (pigment cells). Most melanocytes are in the skin.
Melanoma can occur on any skin surface. In men, it’s often found on the skin on the head, on the neck, or between the shoulders and the hips. In women, it’s often found on the skin on the lower legs or between the shoulders and the hips.Melanoma is rare in people with dark skin. When it does develop in people with dark skin, it’s usually found under the fingernails, under the toenails, on the palms of the hands, or on the soles of the feet.
- Basal cell skin cancer: Basal cell skin cancer begins in the basal cell layer of the skin. It usually occurs in places that have been in the sun. For example, the face is the most common place to find basal cell skin cancer.In people with fair skin, basal cell skin cancer is the most common type of skin cancer.
- Squamous cell skin cancer: Squamous cell skin cancer begins in squamous cells. In people with dark skin, squamous cell skin cancer is the most common type of skin cancer, and it’s usually found in places that are not in the sun, such as the legs or feet.
What is the best defense?
I strongly recommend shade. Yep! Something as simple as that. While my neighbors in Florida are chopping their trees down (they are messy was the reason given to me) I cherish the trees that I have shading my lawn. The couple across the street, removed the old oaks in their front yard as soon as they moved in, but then would park in front of my house when the mister of the house was cleaning his car because he wanted the shade! Yes, shade is a good thing. Seek it.
Staying inside during the sun’s zenith is a good idea. I walk in the early morning or the late afternoon. I also always wear a hat and sunglasses. I never NEVER use tanning booths. Ugh! No way Pass.
Use a sun umbrella. Yes, a sun umbrella was in vogue during the Victorian age as ladies in their long dresses walked through flowery fields yielding parasols to protect their fair skin from the sun. Fair skin was “in” because it meant that you were not of the working class, heaven forbid. Tan faces were the norm for the farmers. Then, as time progressed, and the working class switched to factory work and became sun-deprived, a tan was a sign that you were part of the upper class; yachting on your boat off the coast of Cannes or playing tennis in Malibu. Then in my generation, a tan was kind of sexy. We lined up on the sand and soaked in the rays saying things to each other that tanned thighs looked thinner. Got to say that none of my friends I baked with on the beach has yet to come down with skin cancer, knock on wood.
I now use an umbrella (parasols are still popular as a wedding accessory) when I know I am going to be standing in the sun for a long period of time let’s say for a grave-side service or for a summer outdoor concert. I am ten degrees cooler than the non-umbrella user, and I’m blocking out the harmful rays. Get into the habit of storing an umbrella in your car and you will thank me later. Here are some great sun umbrella’s.
Be extremely careful of what you rub on your skin. Years ago I was substitute teaching in a cosmetology class and on the wall was a sponge cut in the shape of a hand with a message below that said, “Your skin is a giant sponge.” Meaning that your skin will absorb everything you put on it, good or bad. If you don’t want to put it in your mouth then why would you put it on your skin? So, now I read just about everything that is in the cosmetic department on the drug store shelves, and I look up ingredients that I am not certain of. Hey, the Internet is a wonderful thing. Let’s take a well-know sunscreen and read the list of ingredients:
Active Ingredients: Octinoxate (7.5%), Octisalate (5%), Zinc Oxide (14.5%) Inactive Ingredients: Water, Propylene Glycol, C12 15 Alkyl Benzoate, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetyl/PEG/PPG 10/1 Dimethicone, PEG 12 Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis) Leaf Juice, Ethyhexyl Palmitate, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Sodium Chloride
Chemical and physical
There are two major types of sunscreen: chemical and physical. Although the terms “sunscreen” and “sunblock” are often used interchangeably, chemical sunscreens absorb UV rays while physical sunscreens, or sunblocks, reflect them. Aha!
Chemical sunscreens contain UVB or UVA absorbing ingredients and create a thin film on the skin that reduces ultraviolet radiation (UVR) penetration to the skin. These ingredients include chemicals like avobenzone and benzophenone, which absorb UVR [source: Environmental Protection Agency]. Chemical sunscreens often contain UVB-absorbing chemicals only; however, there are some chemical sunscreens that contain both UVB and UVA absorbers [source: American Melanoma Foundation].
Because they contain ingredients that physically block UVR, sunblocks provide broader protection against both UVA and UVB light [source: American Melanoma Foundation]. Physical sunblocks reflect UV radiation back into the atmosphere using ingredients such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide [source: UCSF School of Medicine]. These ingredients scatter both UVA and UVB rays, which provides your skin with full protection from sun damage. There are also sunscreen products that contain a combination of chemical and physical sunscreens, which ensure that your skin is completely protected.
Is sunscreen poisoning us?
Some of the chemical sunscreens are considered endocrine disruptors. Those are chemicals that interfere with the normal function of hormones. The hormones most commonly disturbed are estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroid. Endocrine disruptors, like some ingredients in chemical sunscreens, can cause abnormal development of fetuses and growing children. They cause early puberty and premature breast development in girls, and small and undescended testicles in boys. They cause low sperm counts and infertility. Endocrine disruptors that act like estrogen can contribute to the development of breast and ovarian cancers in women, and other endocrine disruptors may increase the chance of prostate cancer in men. (Source: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/your-sunscreen-might-be-poisoning-you)
Now, do you really want to be rubbing that on your child? I cringe when I see a parent, who is thinking they are doing the right thing, rub sunscreen on their baby. The child is usually crying so I think they know more than the parent. What the mom or dad should be doing instead is limiting the child’s swim time to early morning/late afternoon, and making sure they wear long sleeves and a hat if possible. (I should point out that my parents sent us to the beach to bake all day in bathing suits with maybe a towel to lay down on and told to come home when the beach closed. It was only when we started working as teenagers that we were able to buy baby oil to intensify the suns rays. Yet, we survived.)
What was different?
Was it the thicker ozone layer or was it the food we eat? I think it is the food we put into our bodies. I lived in a simpler time when junk food was a rare occurrence. Why? Junk food was not a necessity and expensive, and few of our mother’s worked so we always had prepared from scratch meals. Drinking soda was a luxury and you never sat around eating a bag of chips. Our snacks were mostly vegetables and fruit because it was readily available in our house and picked from the local farms. Chemicals in food were non-existing and free radicals were kept under control, I am assuming. It was a wholesome and healthy time? Do I think that is what ultimately protected our skin, the largest organ in the body? Possibly. That and some good genes. Think before you apply and be sun safe.
Check this site out for more natural sunscreen protection ideas. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/8-natural-ways-to-prevent-a-sunburn-and-sunscreens-not-one-of-them/#axzz3AIO09tOx
Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan is a health blogger and lives in Sarasota, FL.
D5 Creation