CAMBRIDGE BASED ‘SKINHEALTH UK’ DONATE £3,000 TO NATIONAL CHARITY ‘SKCIN’ TO PROMOTE AWARENESS, PREVENTION AND EARLY DETECTION OF SKIN CANCER IN THE UK
SkinHealth UK, in partnership with the Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity, Skcin, believe in increasing awareness of skin cancer and the dangers of over exposure to UV and ultimately saving lives by early detection.
A donation of £3,000 by the Cambridge based firm SkinHealth UK is hoped to be the first of many in the continued corporate support of national skin cancer charity, Skcin. The charity’s work is aimed at educating and raising awareness on the subject of sun safety and the early detection of skin cancers in order to save lives. Both organisations are keen to educate 'at risk groups', those particularly susceptible to the dangers of over exposure to UV by the nature of the activities they carry out, and this donation should help with ongoing campaigns to do just that. Marketing & Development Director for Skcin, Charlotte Fionda says: “ At Skcin we are all about educating and raising awareness for what is now the UK’s most common and fastest rising cancer. We have large-scale primary school program (www.sunsafeschools.co.uk) that this generous donation from SkinHealthUK will help finance. It will ensure that we can continue to provide FREE sun safety resources to all UK primary schools registering, changing the attitudes and behaviours of a generation towards sun safety and hopefully halting the rising incidence of the disease in years to come.”
Over 125,000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer in the UK each year and melanoma, the most serious form of the disease, is today the second most common cancer in young people aged 15-34. Skin cancer is claiming more lives in the UK than in Australia, despite more skin cancer cases in Australia and the reason is that 90% of skin cancers in Australia are curable due to early detection (and the high degree of education and awareness in Australia). Early detection of skin cancer does save lives.
SkinCheck is a mole/skin screening service offered privately by SkinHealth UK to individuals, and employees under corporate schemes, through clinics nationwide. It involves a complete skin examination (30 minutes) using traditional screening technology such as dermoscopy, but also including the latest technology, SIAscopy. This captures images deep within the skin which provides a unique extra dimension for the clinicians to base their diagnosis on. The SkinCheck nurse also offers tuition in what to look out for and a mole-by-mole result letter is provided within a few days of the consultation.
Mr Per Hall, Clinical Director for SkinHealth UK comments: “SkinCheck has been constructed to provide a complete skin examination, also on the back where it is impossible for people to review their own skin. If an abnormality is identified we offer referral to both NHS and private clinics for fast follow-up by leading local consultants.”
Mr Hall, consultant plastic surgeon in Cambridge since 1995 and pioneer in the early detection of skin cancer using computer imaging for over 20 years, also comments: “At SkinHealth UK, we are pleased to be supporting the charity Skcin, as this is helping to raise awareness of skin cancer throughout the UK. Skin cancer is a largely preventable disease, but the number of cases has more than quadrupled in the UK over the last thirty years. Practising sun safety and adopting a skin awareness approach can help reduce the risks or detect problems early and early detection can save lives”
