March 8, 2018 | Stephen Fine, Founder and President

Melanoma Questions: A True or False Quiz

We know that taking a quiz was rarely an eagerly anticipated moment during your years in school. However, this one’s different. There’s absolutely no way to fail. Even if you guess incorrectly on a question(s), you’ll still come out way ahead by having educated yourself about melanoma.

Melanoma is a potentially lethal, but mostly preventable, disease. The more you learn, the better you’ll become at protecting your skin and keeping it healthy.

Some responses contain links to other relevant blog posts. This allows us to provide more valuable information within this post in an easily accessible fashion.

Melanoma Quiz

True or False? (Please scroll down for the answers)

1. Melanoma incidence within the U.S. is decreasing.
2. For the most part, melanoma strikes males and females equally.
3. While a melanoma is still in a curable stage, keeping a lookout for the ABCDE warning signs is all that you need to do.
4. Sun safety lessons for teens help to cause behavioral changes that decrease their risk of melanoma, and other skin cancers.
5. Using a high-SPF (Sun Protection Factor) sunscreen can significantly reduce a person’s chance of developing melanoma.
6. If you find a suspicious growth during your monthly skin self-exam, you can usually get a dermatologist appointment quickly.
7. Taking a Vitamin D supplement is an effective alternative to sun exposure to ensure that your Vitamin D level is sufficient.
8. Melanoma seldom develops within infants, toddlers, and pre-teens.
9. The incidence of melanoma is higher in the sunbelt states than it is in most northern states.

Answer Key:

1. False. The American Cancer Society projected 161,790 new melanoma cases in 2017. For 2018, the ACS projection has increased to 178,560.
2. False. Until the age of 50, a greater number of females develop invasive melanoma. However, from cradle-to-grave, the rate is 53% higher in males. It is strongly believed throughout the medical community that tanning beds are partially responsible for the higher prevalence of the disease among young women.
3. False. It’s just as important to check for the EFG signs of nodular melanoma.
   (Note: ABCDE = ‘Asymmetrical’, ‘Border’, ‘Color’, ‘Diameter’ and ‘Evolving’. EFG = ‘Elevated’, ‘Firm’ and ‘Growing’)
4. False. Numerous studies have revealed that sun-safety lessons are ineffective at getting teens to change their behavior patterns. They’re tedious, uninteresting, and teens simply ignore them.
5. False. (Mostly). 99% of sunscreen users only apply 25-50% of the amount needed to achieve the rated SPF. With a 100 SPF sunscreen the true SPF values are 3.1 and 10, respectively.
6. True. Because the speed of diagnosis and treatment of melanoma is essential, it’s imperative to have suspicious growths checked out as quickly as possible. There are several avenues that people can take to get themselves seen by a dermatologist in short order. To learn more about the different options that are available, please click here.
7. True. Please click here to learn why.
8. True. (Mostly). Please click here to learn why.
9. False. Most northern states have a greater incidence of melanoma. The high-risk factor of intermittent sun exposure, and the widespread mistaken belief that cloud cover and precipitation offer adequate UV (ultraviolet) ray protection, are believed to be two big reasons for this.

So, how did you do? Don’t worry, whatever your score was you’ve earned an A+ today.