Skin Cancer Screening Sets Guinness World Record

by Nancy Chan UCSF's Department of Dermatology held its annual free skin cancer screening for the general public on May 6, with record participation in more ways than one. The 327 people who were screened contributed to a Guinness World Record attempt as part of the American Academy of Dermatology's (AAD's) national one-day event. "We had over 200 sites participating from around the country," said Aisha Hasan, AAD spokesperson. "This is a first-time record, so even though we won't have the final numbers in until June, we know we've set a world record for skin cancer screenings in a single day." San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who co-sponsored the event, was on hand to see members of the community taking advantage of the screening examinations. "It is both critical and essential that UCSF provides this important service, especially considering the number of individuals without health insurance," said Mirkarimi. "I had a chance to speak to people who were happy that this was made available to them." Brian Cho, MD, along with almost 40 physicians, medical students and volunteers, performed examinations and made followup recommendations. "A patient told me how she had a history of precancerous lesions in her family and, due to lack of health insurance, had not been checked out," said Cho. "We saw people who had suspicious lesions and we recommended that they get biopsies. There was a mix of all adult age groups, young and old, and a lot of different races and ethnicities."

May is designated as Melanoma/Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention Month by the AAD. The event was intended to bring awareness to melanoma, one of the most common forms of cancer in the United States. It affects one in five Americans, and more than 1 million new cases are diagnosed each year. According to the AAD, of these cases, more than 105,750 are melanoma, which claims 7,770 lives each year. With early diagnosis and treatment, the cure rate for skin cancer averages 95 percent. The target participation goal of 5,606 people related to the date the screening event would take place on 5/6/06 (Saturday, May 6, 2006). Over the past five years, Melanoma Monday, the annual one-day free cancer screening event held by the AAD, screened an average of 3,400 across the country. While the participants were educated about sun protection and skin self-examinations, medical students also benefited from the firsthand knowledge gained by the opportunity to see so many different types of lesions. "The high volume of people provided a great living classroom," said Timothy Berger, MD, professor of dermatology. "I can give students a lecture and show slides, but seeing what they were able to see today is an invaluable learning experience. Not only are the students helping us examine patients, they're learning at the same time. We were able to combine education with our civic responsibility, and it's a win-win for everyone." Maya Ponte, a fourth-year dermatology student, assisted Berger with the skin cancer screenings. She said that as a student, to be able to see how different a lesion can look on different people was much better than sitting in a classroom. "We were actually able to distinguish the different types of lesions, talk to the patients and work alongside the physicians," she said. "Seeing multiple examples of the same thing was really helpful." Within the first hour, faculty and students had performed visual inspections of more than 65 people. In addition to the examination, participants received patient information about the importance of wearing sun screen, looking at their family history and general information about skin cancer. Each person also received a sticker to wear that declared their participation in a Guinness World Record attempt. Photos by Elisabeth Fall Links: Better Understanding of Melanoma and UV Risk by UCSF Cancer Experts Confirms Danger of Sun Exposure