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7 reasons why a regular skin check up is a must

Your skin is the largest organ of your body and is responsible for protecting all of your inner organs, including the lungs, the heart, the muscles, and even the blood. Therefore, it is important to take good care of it, which includes scheduling regular skin check-ups, in order to keep it strong and healthy.

A regular skin checkup is fairly quick and simple and provides at least 7 benefits, including:

  1. It Helps Detect Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is a silent disease that can go unnoticed until it has reached its late stages, which can make it difficult to treat. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, approximately one out of five Americans will develop some form of skin cancer during their lifetime, with more than 70% of fatalities resulting from melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Therefore, it is important to participate in an annual skin exam for the early detection of skin cancer, which can ultimately help save your life. This is especially important if you have a history of cancer in your family.

Skin cancer occurs in people of all skin colours and can reveal itself in various ways, including scars, skin ulcers, and moles, such as with melanoma, on the face, back of the hands, legs, back, and other parts of the body. If left untreated, it can also eventually spread to the organs, including the brain, lungs, bones, and liver, as well as the lymph nodes, where it can become even more serious.

Regular skin care checkups by a skin care professional, such as The Family Skin Care Clinic at https://thebrightsideclinic.com.au/, can help keep your skin screened for cancer as well as identify any lifestyle habits that may be contributing to your risk of developing the disease, so you can take the proper precautions to help prevent it.

If during your skin examination, the specialist detects any cancerous growths, they can also provide the proper surgical methods needed to safely remove them before they spread.

  1. It Can Help Diagnose Nail and Hair Conditions

Many people are unaware, but regular skin checkups can also help diagnose and treat nail and hair conditions. Therefore, whether you have an issue with thinning hair, baldness, dry, itchy scalp, and more, a skin checkup may the best place to start.

  1. It Can Help Properly Identify Acne

If you have ever had to deal with acne, then you know there are many over the counter products that promise to clear up your skin, and quickly, but that don't actually work.

When you receive a skin checkup, the specialist can not only determine the exact type of acne you have, but they can also identify the factors that are contributing to your acne, including your lifestyle, skin type, and any environmental factors that may be worsening your condition. They can also prescribe a specific regimen based on these factors that can help clear your acne once and for all.

Furthermore, all too often people think they have acne, when they actually have rosacea, so they use over the counter acne medications to treat the condition, which can make it worse.

Rosacea causes bumps, blistering, and redness on the skin similar to acne, which causes many people to mistake it for acne and go about using the wrong treatment only to find that it makes their condition worse.

Though both conditions have similar symptoms, they require different treatments to clear them up. A regular skin checkup not only helps properly distinguish acne from rosacea so that you can receive the proper treatment, but it also enables you to stay on top of the condition so that you can continue to prevent it.

  1. It Can Help You Safely Remove Moles

Moles are generally harmless growths that appear on the skin; however, for some, they can be unsightly. Trying to remove moles yourself can cause excessive bleeding, which can be dangerous. Furthermore, sometimes moles are confused with warts, which are small, non-cancerous flesh-coloured growths, which can cause you to treat them with over the counter treatment that can irritate the growth.

Though most moles are typically harmless, if you have more than 50 moles, your moles have changed in appearance or size, or they are accompanied by soreness, it can be a sign of skin cancer.

A regular skin checkup can help properly distinguish between cancerous and non-cancerous moles as well as warts and then provide the methods to safely remove them.

  1. It Can Help You Properly Identify Stasis Dermatitis

Stasis dermatitis, which presents itself as a blistered rash that occurs throughout the body, especially the legs, is often confused with an infection of the skin and is thus often treated with medications that thin the blood or antibiotics, which can be harmful.

A regular skin checkup can determine the exact cause of your reoccurring rash so that it can be treated safely and effectively from here on out.

  1. It Can Help You Properly Identify Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy is a rash that carries with it various symptoms, including itching, swelling, blisters, and redness, which can be irritating. It can also seem to clear up on its own, which can cause you to confuse it with just a simple rash. However, sometimes the rash will appear again even worse, if not properly treated.

A skin checkup can help properly identify your rash, which will enable you to receive the proper treatment, so you don't continue to experience discomfort.

  1. It Can Help You Properly Identify Your Skin Type

There are many different types of skin from sensitive skin to dry skin to oily skin; therefore, there is no one size fits all skin product. In fact, using products that are not specially formulated to treat your specific skin type can irritate your skin, which can lead to acne breakouts, skin rashes, and more, which can actually worsen your condition and breakdown your skin's barrier.

A regular skin checkup can help identify your skin's changes throughout your life-cycle, which will affect what skin care products you use for healthy, glowing skin.

In the end, a regular skin checkup can be used to help keep your skin happy and healthy in various ways, including detecting skin cancer early so that it can be prevented. During your skin checkup, your specialist may also recommend diet and lifestyle changes, which also helps promote healthy skin.

If you are experiencing any skin issues, especially if you have lesions that won't heal or a mole that has changed in appearance, it is imperative that you schedule a skin checkup immediately to help rule out skin cancer as a cause.