Skincare specialists offer free counselling against skin cancer

On Monday and Tuesday, skincare specialists set up a tent on Prague’s Wenceslas Square in order to raise awareness of the risks of skin cancer. Anyone walking by could get a free check-up and advice on how to protect themselves.

Every year, some 1,500 Czechs are diagnosed with a malignant melanoma, one of the most dangerous types of skin cancer and about one fifth of them die. Despite doctors’ warnings, the rate of skin tumours in the Czech Republic is on the rise, especially in young girls and women in 10 to 29 age bracket. Doctor Monika Arenbergerová, one of the doctors working in the field, says most Czechs still underestimate the risks of skin cancer:

Photo: www.melanomy.cz

“For example mothers with children are now very well educated. We are trying to focus the campaign on children because it has been shown that how you behave as a child may increase your risk of developing melanoma in adulthood. But men over fifty are also a high risk group because they ignore sunscreens and ignore prevention campaigns and they rarely visit a dermatologist. So we see quite developed tumours in this type of group.”

Last year, doctors managed to examine some 1,500 people during the two-day event and diagnosed 72 skin tumours. Every year, there are 17 new patients per 100 000 people, an increase which is slightly above the European level. Why are Czechs more reckless than other European nations? Monika Arenbergerová offers one possible explanation:

“I think the problem is that Czechs were not allowed to travel to the sea or to exotic countries for years. So after the Velvet revolution we started to travel a lot –particularly to exotic countries and seaside resorts - and these holidays are especially risky for people with very fair skin. Somehow we ignore prevention and we don’t use sunscreen. Of course there are a number of factors, but one of them could be travelling.”

While Czechs tend to ignore regular check ups, hundreds availed themselves of the opportunity to get a free screening in the tent on Wenceslas Square. Despite the rainy weather, there was a long queue of people. While I was inside, I asked doctor Monika Arenbergerová to explain how the screening works:

Monika Arenbergerová

“I take a look if you have moles anywhere paying special attention to those which have changed in shape or form. For example like the moles here on the left side of your neck. I take a picture of the neck itself and I focus on the moles. I have the possibility to enlarge them fifty times so I can examine them in detail. Then I make a special analysis. In the database of this computer there are about thirty thousand pictures of moles and the system compares the picture of your mole with the database and evaluates the risks of your mole individually.”

As part of the European Day of Melanoma next Monday, dermatologists all over the Czech Republic will open their doors to the public for a free check-up against skin cancer.