Free skin cancer screenings on May 3

DERMATOLOGISTS across Cyprus will offer free skin cancer screenings on May 3 as part of European Melanoma Day. The Cyprus Society of Dermatology and Venereology in conjunction with the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology will sponsor the day, aimed at educating Cypriots about skin cancer prevention and reducing the number of patients who die of the disease.

Only dermatologists who are members of the Cyprus Society of Dermatology will offer the free screenings. Visits are by appointment only and do not include the cost of prescriptions and extra skin examinations.

“We are trying to educate Cypriots on how important it is to protect themselves from the sun,” said Society member Constandinos Demetriou. “A few years ago no one knew what SPF was. Now they know and they examine themselves as well,” he said.

“Each year more than 50,000 Europeans develop an aggressive form of skin cancer,” said Society member Androulla Kyprianou. “As is known, the best way to avoid such a dangerous development is the preventive examination of the skin.”

Society president Georgios Ketonis said that children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of skin exposure, and advised parents that children should wear hats and only be let out in the sun early in the morning or late in the afternoon. And of course, that they should wear sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15.

Ketonis also warned of the symptoms of melanoma, which rarely include pain. Instead, melanoma presents as a change in the colour or symmetry of freckles and moles.

Ketonis added that “even if you do not get skin cancer from going in the sun, you will begin to look old.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.