Alto Guadalquivir Hospital begins to prevent skin cancer

The Alto Guadalquivir Hospital organized an information table at which two specialists from the hospital center spoke about the dangers of sun exposure and the risk of developing skin cancer.

The awareness campaign coincides with the start of summer and the celebration of European Skin Cancer Prevention Day, taking on particular relevance as skin cancer cases are rising faster than any other type, according to the World Health Organization.

The Cancer Observatory of the Spanish Association Against Cancer estimates that a total of 20,392 new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in Spain in 2023. The Spanish Association of Dermatologists and Venereologists indicates that the number of detected cancers of this type has increased by about 40% in recent years. “However, skin cancer is the most preventable tumor and, if detected and treated in a timely manner, has a good prognosis,” said Lucrezia Sánchez, director of the Andújar Hospital Center.

In the zone

Eight new cases of melanoma have been identified at the Alto Guadalquivir hospital over the past year. Also, since the beginning of the year, more than 3,000 consultations and 122 surgical interventions have been carried out in the specialty “Dermatology”, of which 102 were “major outpatient surgery”.

The Andujar Hospital Center, like other hospitals in the Andalusian public health system, has introduced teleconsultations in dermatology, a useful tool that improves citizens’ access to this type of hospital care and ensures a faster resolution of suspicions. In this procedure, the primary care physician sends images of suspicious lesions electronically, receives a response from the dermatology service of the Alto Guadalquivir Hospital and, depending on the specialist’s examination, an in-person appointment is scheduled or not.

During these months of 2024, more than 3,000 consultations were carried out, almost half of them through teleconsultations. Experts have given advice on the importance of proper sun protection for both adults and children, and this should be reinforced in childhood as most skin conditions begin in adulthood but are mainly caused by previous exposures. from the age of 18, since the skin has a memory and these damages, according to experts, accumulate.