Warm weather comes and goes—but the risk of skin cancer is always in season, says three-time Olympic medalist Julia Mancuso. Photo courtesy American Academy of Dermatology.

Slathering on sunscreen to sidestep skin cancer is often associated with being outdoors in the hot, summer sun. But don’t drop sun-smart habits to prevent and detect skin cancer just because the air temperatures fall. People remain at risk during cold weather months, especially if they are around snow (which reflects damaging UV rays) or at are at higher altitudes (where rays are more powerful).

Top alpine skier Julia Mancuso is passionate about raising awareness of skin cancer. And it’s a family affair: Her grandfather and aunt are dermatologists.

“Ever since I was a little girl, my mom instilled in me the importance of protecting my skin from the sun. I follow that advice to this day—on the mountain or off,” says America’s most decorated Olympic female alpine skier. Join in the fight against skin cancer with Julia’s tips and video for protecting your skin while on the slopes: 

More than 3.5 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed annually. Here's what you need to know about the disease. Infographic by Four Points Dermatology.

Click image to enlarge.

• Always pack sunscreen in your ski gear bag.
• Cover your nose: I use zinc oxide to prevent sunburn. 
• Apply sunscreen every couple of hours because it wears off. I reapply every time I go into the lodge.
• Start your day with a daily moisturizer that contains sunscreen.
• Wear goggles or sunglasses with UVA/UVB protection for your eyes.
• Pull on a mask or wrap a bandana over your face to filter out the sun—and help prevent a wicked goggle line!  
• Grab a hat. When I’m not wearing my helmet on the slopes, I love trucker hats to help protect my face from the sun.

Currently, skin cancer strikes one in four Americans and early detection is key to successful treatment. Now, a new video “Skin Self-Exam: How to Do” from the American Academy of Dermatology shows how to inspect your skin and what to look for.

“Check your skin regularly and see a board-certified dermatologist if you spot anything suspicious. Examining your skin only takes a few minutes, but it could save your life,” said Thomas E. Rohrer, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist in private practice in Chestnut Hill, Mass. To track suspicious spots, use the American Academy of Dermatology’s Body Mole Map.

Skin-Saving Tips from Alpine Superstar Julia Mancuso The Saturday Evening Post

“No one wants to think about developing a disfiguring, even deadly, disease like skin cancer, so many Americans live in a state of denial,” says Joshua Fox, M.D., a leading dermatologist and medical director of Advanced Dermatology of New York and New Jersey. “Most people know they are supposed to be checking their skin monthly for changes that might be cancer, but they aren’t exactly diligent about it. It’s something that gets put off for later, often indefinitely.”

Checking your skin regularly, and making an appointment to have your dermatologist do the same, is the best and only way to catch skin cancer before it spreads.

“For the past twenty-five years, we’ve told people to pay attention to the ABCDs of pigmented skin irregularities,” Dr. Fox continues. “Checking for asymmetry, border irregularity, color variation, and diameter more than 6 mm (about 1/4 inch) is still the key to identifying a problematic growth among a bunch of innocuous-looking freckles and moles.”

Here are Dr. Fox’s five rules to save your skin:

1. Make it a habit to check your skin at home.

Inspect yourself, head to toe, once a month. “Many cases of melanoma and other cancers develop on the scalp,” Dr. Fox says. “These cancers can be deadly, but unfortunately, most people don’t check the tops of their heads very often.”

Helpful Hint: Look over every inch of your birthday suit, even in areas where you’ll need a hand mirror to get a good look.Check the palms of your hands, your nails, and the soles of your feet, too.

2. Know what is normal.

In most cases, a normal mole is a uniform shade of brown, tan, or black, and can be flat or raised, round or oval. Some moles are present at birth and others develop later in life, especially in areas that get lots of sun.  Once moles appear, they most often remain the same size, shape, and color. Others eventually fade and disappear. “Almost everybody has moles, and almost all moles are harmless,” Dr. Fox says. But people with lots of moles, more than 50, are at a higher risk for skin cancer.

Helpful Hint: Be on the lookout for flesh-colored, pearl-like bumps or pinkish or reddish patches of skin that flake, scale, or even bleed. They can be basal or squamous cell carcinomas.

3. Pay attention to changes in your skin.

Be on the lookout for new marks and check for changes in old ones. Also note whether skin around a freckle or mole becomes crusty, for example, or spots start to feel itchy or sore.

Helpful Hint: “Spots on the skin come in all shapes and sizes, and not every mark you see will be cancer,” Dr. Fox says. “But if you see something that really stands out, what dermatologists call an ‘ugly duckling’, be sure to tell your dermatologist in a timely manner.”

4. Schedule an annual skin check with your dermatologist.

Most people should see the dermatologist once a year. At this exam, the doctor will check your skin and discuss any changes that the two of you have found.

Helpful Hint: Anyone who’s had skin cancer already or who has other significant risk factors should make an appointment at least every six months.

5. Find a dermatologist who uses dermatoscopy technology.

Also known as epiluminescence microscopy (ELM), or surface microscopy, this is a relatively new method of screening that’s extremely effective at identifying cancers, helping the doctor distinguish malignant lesions from benign ones, says Dr. Farkas, who uses a dermatoscope in her practice at Advanced Dermatology. “The dermatoscope uses polarized light and a magnifying lens to let us ‘see’ the skin more clearly,” she explains. “It significantly increases the accuracy of the exam, meaning we can detect problems much more reliably than with the naked eye.”

Helpful Hint: Next week, Medical Update offers bonus coverage from dermatology specialist Dr. Babar Rao about VivaScopes with advanced laser technology that provides optical images of cells at and below the surface of living skin to detect and diagnose skin cancer—without a biopsy.

5 Tips to Spot Skin Cancer The Saturday Evening Post