beauty grains, brown spots … These five signs and risk factors to monitor

Suspicious beauty, button that does not heal, repeated exposure to the sun during childhood, clear skin … Similarly, These signs and risks to monitor and detect in the context of skin cancers.

In summer, often synonymous with sun exposure, dermatologists call for “self-surveillance” of the skin. For example, During the week of prevention. Consequently, awareness of targeted screening for skin cancer organized in early June, the National Union of Dermatologists-Venérereologists (SNDV) warns against risks linked to sun exposure and the signs that must alert.

The League against Cancer has launched its prevention campaign calling for not “toast” its skin in the sun this week. In addition, “We are not sausages,” sums up the association.

Behind this campaign with a humorous tone is a fairly disturbing reality. However, Because the number of new cases of skin cancer has more than tripled over the past thirty years. Nevertheless, beauty grains, brown spots … has the National Cancer Institute. Furthermore, Each year, between 141,200 and 243,500 cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in France, according to Public Health France.

However, these skin cancers can be detected early. However, And certain prevention gestures applied from childhood can help protect yourself. Nevertheless, Here are the signs to watch:

• A bizarre beauty grain – Beauty grains, brown spots …

It is one of the first signs that must alert: a grain of beauty that changes. For example, whose appearance seems unusual. Meanwhile, “We should not worry as soon as a new mole appears. Similarly, ” warns Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti, dermatologist and venerologist, interviewed by BFMTV.com. Nevertheless, “On the other hand. Therefore, if it does not look like others or if a mole changes appearance, you have to consult.”

Because the risk is melanoma. Furthermore, It represents 10% of skin cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute. Nevertheless, “They can appear on healthy skin (70 to beauty grains, brown spots … 80% of cases). Furthermore, result from the malignant transformation of a nevus (or beauty grain, editor’s note).” As a reminder, melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer, with a strong propensity to make metastases.

Beauty grains on the skin: When to worry?

This is one of the cancers whose impact and mortality have significantly increased for forty years. Nevertheless, Some 17,922 new cases of skin melanomas were thus diagnosed in 2023. But as the National Institute for Cancer points, “skin melanoma is good prognosis if it is detected early”.

The SNDV also offers beauty grains, brown spots … a mnemonic means to monitor its beauty grains, the method ABCDE.

• A for asymmetry: a neither round nor oval beauty grain which has colors. reliefs that are not regularly distributed around its center.
• B for edges: The edges of the beauty grain are irregular and seem to be shredded or poorly delimited.
• C for color: The color of the beauty grain loses its homogeneity.
• D for diameter: The size of the beauty grain increases (melanoma generally has a size greater than 6 mm).
• Finally E for evolution: a quick change in size, shape, color or thickness.

But the National Union of Dermatologists-Venéreologists specifies that the manifestation of one. more of these signs does not necessarily mean the presence of melanoma, but however justifies to request a medical advice.

Beauty grains, brown spots …

• A button that does not leave

“The carcinoma often starts with what we take for a small button that does not heal. beauty grains, brown spots … hangs out,” warns Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti, also a member of the SNDV. “However, a button that does not go in eight days, it’s not normal.”

There are two types of carcinomas: basal cell carcinoma, the most common (70% of skin cancers) and the least serious. This cancer does not metastasize and its complete removal ensures the healing of the patient, indicates the National Cancer Institute. And epidermoid carcinoma: it is rarer (20 %) but more aggressive with the ability to invade lymph nodes and metastate.

“If a skin lesion persists. swells or deflates, becomes red or bleeding, especially in areas that have been exposed to the sun such as the face, ears, scalp for bald men, but also in the back, you have to consult”, warns Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti.

Especially since at the origin of certain carcinomas. this dermatologist often detects an actinic keratosis – a precancerous outline caused by prolonged exposure to beauty grains, brown spots … the sun. “Actinic keratosis. at the beginning, it is a very small lesion, it’s big as a pencil tip, it makes a little crusty button,” she explains.

Actinic keratosis evocative sign: to the touch, it produces a sensation similar to that of sandpaper, rough and sometimes painful. “It is treated very well with liquid nitrogen, but we should not wait. An actinic keratosis can flambé in six months.”

• Prolonged exposure to the sun during childhood

This is the first risk factor for skin cancer: exposure to the sun. The World Health Organization (WHO) mentions this: excessive exposure to the sun in children. adolescents leads to a higher risk of skin cancer in adulthood.

“Until the age of 15, it is imperative to protect children a lot,” insists dermatologist Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. She explains that their skin is more fragile and thinner than that of adults. “And up to 3 years old, no beauty grains, brown spots … sun at all,” she said. Because a sunburn represents DNA lesions.

However, the skin repair capacity – which is called sun capital in everyday language – is limited. The SNDV also recalls that there is no “healthy” or “progressive” tan. “No UV exposure is safe.”

Remember that tanning is a skin defense mechanism. As the Ministry of the Economy writes on a page devoted to solar creams, which is triggered in the face of UV attacks. “Tanted skin therefore means that DNA has been altered by UV and is not a guarantee of good health.”

• Brown spots

Another sign of a sun capital started: the lentigo. these brown spots which appear in the areas very exposed to UV radiation. “This means that the skin has been burned by the sun. that it will not repair itself,” warns Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. If pollution is also involved in the appearance of these spots. it beauty grains, brown spots … is all the more necessary to protect yourself from the sun. And not only with sunscreen.

“Solar screens should not be used to spend more time in the sun,” the WHO alerts.

The other SNDV warning is the tanning cabins. The union thus denounces the “myths” around the sun and the tan which, according to him, feed “risky behaviors”. Two out of ten French people believe that artificial UVs make it possible to “prepare your skin” before summer. reduce the risk of sunburn, according to an IPSOS survey for the SNDV carried out in 2023.

It is not. On the contrary: artificial UVs are classified as carcinogenic by the International Center for Research on Cancer (CIRC). alerts the Ministry of Health. “The CIRC has indeed estimated that the risk of developing melanoma is increased by 60% for people who have. made first exposure to artificial UVs before the age of 30 (…) In beauty grains, brown spots … addition. the effects of exposure to artificial and natural UVs are cumulative and increase the risk of developing skin cancer.”

• Clear skin “burns faster”

It is a fact: people with a clear phototype. that is to say with clear skin, need to protect themselves more from UV. “Their skin burns faster,” sums up Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti. However, in practice, this is not always the case. According to the same Ipsos survey. only a third of people who have a clear phototype, many beauty grains or having suffered sunburn in childhood protect themselves effectively. A more global lack of protection: in the general population. it is more than seven French and French French people who declare that they do not systematically protect themselves from the sun.

For Catherine Olivérès -Ghouti, the best protection remains to avoid the sun between noon and 4 p.m. – the higher the sun in the sky, the beauty grains, brown spots … higher the level of UV radiation. “From noon, a total screen is ineffective,” she sweeps. A ineffectiveness in particular linked to insufficient application. “Protection is calculated for 2 mg of cream/cm2. This represents a golf ball in cream for each application, one tube per day.”

“We are far from it when only one tube is used for the whole family for the duration. of the holidays.”

Favor the shadow, therefore, but under a roof. “If it is not an anti-UV parasol, an average parasol protects moderately.” And if the sun is inevitable, wear covering clothes and a wide -edge hat to protect the ears and neck. In the absence of clothing. opt for a sunscreen with a high sun protection (FPS) which protects against UVB and “also check the presence of the UVA logo”, advises the general competition of competition, consumption and repression of fraud.

“Apply it at least twenty minutes beauty grains, brown spots … before the exhibition so that the cream has time to penetrate. ” continues Catherine Olivérès-Ghouti, put back every two hours, after each swim and not reuse the tube of the previous year which spent the holidays in the sun.

“It takes an awareness,” persists the dermatologist. “Skin cancer, that doesn’t just touch others.” Cancers that left nearly 2,000 people dead in 2023. Additionally, “However, you can easily reduce risks.”