May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. And Melanoma Monday is coming up on May 6th. It’s a chance for you to get your skin checked for free at certain dermatology offices.

Dermatology Duluth is offering that service. The owner, Dr. Hilary Reich, explained more.

“The screenings are simple. We can look at one spot, body part, or your whole body. Our first year, we found two melanomas and two carcinomas,” she told us.

1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer before they are 70, Dr. Reich said. And it’s higher for people with fair skin.

Two blistering sunburns can raise your risk. Dr. Reich shared why that is.

“I like to describe it as our skin has memory. When our cells are exposed to ionizing radiation of the sun, you can create some small mutations. Cancer is a collection of cells with mutations making clones of themselves. When we’re young and healthy, our immune system can hold down growth of those mutated cells. But as we get older, and more accumulated mutations, at some point they start breaking out, and that’s why we see skin cancer developing in older adults,” she said.

For more information about Dermatology Duluth: https://dermduluth.com/

218-740-7400

They are located at the Arrowpointe Medical Center in Duluth, off of Rice Lake Road.