Preventing Skin cancers (NOT a sunscreen topic)
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free skin care · Mon Feb 06, 2006 1:26 am

I am wondering what everyone here might know about products for reversing sun damage, not from a beauty point of view, but from a cancer prevention point. I have read that they are testing an enzyme T4 endonuclease 5 (T4N5) which has shown it can enter a cell and reverse DNA damage, but that is the only thing I have found and I cannot find out when there will be a product available on the market containing it.

Because my skin is so fair, I never went out sunbaking as such, but because it IS so fair, I had more than my share of sunburns throughout my life. I am about to turn 40 and whilst we did wear sunscreens, the knowlege about cancers just was not what it is today. My skin does not show too much damage at present (forearms, hands, legs show the most), my nose and chin do have a permanent red tinge from sun damage as a child.

My 100% goal at this point in my life is to do everything possible to prevent cancers forming by reversing cellular damage. I am very careful about the sun now, but at 40 the bulk of damage would have already been done 15, 20 years or more ago. I guess I am fortunate that since I did not bake out in the sun so I am not a mass of wrinkles or sunspots, but seeing what my parents (both 77) have gone through with skin cancers (including serious melanoma for my father) and the various operations and skin grafts, all I care about is preventing that happening to me.

Given that research is showing there could be hereditary traits with skin cancer, I am a researchers dream. The docs at the hospital always get excited about my parents being a "couple" with so many cancers.. lord help them if I walked in; they would probably bust a vein to sign me up for a study.

I have pretty good skin and use a good Vit. C serum daily (cellex-c 17.5%). I am supposed to avoid using AHAs as beauticians hvae said my skin is too "delicate" for acids. I am going to purchase the PSF Oxygen serum too (figure it cannot hurt Laughing

)

Internally, I take CoQ10, drink green tea, take vitamin c.. basically any antioxidant I can find I will consume.... Laughing

What are some other internal and topical treatments people have heard about??

free skin care · Mon Feb 06, 2006 11:04 am

When I told my mother I liked to use an aspirin mask every so often, she mentioned to me that she had just heard on the news that taking an aspirin each day supposedly helps to prevent skin cancer.

I just now did a quick google check on this and found this link. http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=health&id=3613466
I am sure there are probably many more links if you have the time to research it.

free skin care · Mon Feb 06, 2006 4:14 pm

That IS interesting... but I see it is for a "non-melanoma" type (any protection is useful though, no?!)

I have to take my asprin internally though as my skin really was not fond of the asprin mask the one time I tried it. Came out in little red bumps all over the place. Might try it again one day though (um, I used aspro clear which might have had something to do with it.) LOL

Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:51 am

tiger_tim - I wish I had kept the original article I read because I posted about something similar a while ago but I am not sure if it was based on t4n5. The topical cream in question was at the time being referred to as "Demericine". The old post is here, if it helps: http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=8015 I can't seem to find anything about it online though...

free skin care · Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:00 am

yea yea, I bet that is the same thing...

Here are some articles about the Demericine you mention:

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=115&id=1863362005

http://www.thisistravel.co.uk/travel/news/-Morning-after-sun-cream-to-repair-skin-article.html?in_article_id=45009

Here is one by the company that created it:
http://www.agiderm.com/popularpress.php

Here is the one I read this morning about T4 endonuclease (t4n5)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4199992.stm

That article from the Scottish paper has some interesting story links on the right side.

This is definately something I will keep an eye on... stuff like this has been in development for so long (like the development of sunscreen based on the protection coral has).. I never realized it had come so close.

Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:08 am

Thanks heaps for the links tiger_tim! I couldn't find any of the Demericine ones via google.

I don't know if it's the same as the cream in the BBC article but I think it might be. It sounds very similar plus there is similar wording to the initial article I read (the whole 'morning after' approach wording and discussion of the concerns with people becoming complacent).

This is definitely one thing that I want to keep an eye on as well. I am very pale and burn easily. Like you, I go to great lengths to protect my skin from getting sunburnt but that is not always possible (hence I am sitting here with a v. painful sunburn on my back where my family apparently weren't as liberal with sunblock application and I couldn't reach).

free skin care · Tue Feb 07, 2006 7:06 am

OMG visiting Australia just kills me. At Xmas my skin felt burned even though I was not even in the direct sun (or even in indirect sun for long). It was awful.

I got caught out about 8 years ago when I never even thought to put sunscreen on before walking down to the botanical gardens and then ferrying over to southbank. OMG I was like a lobster...

One thing I will say about Tokyo is that even in the height of summer the sun just does not have nearly the strength of back home. My sun exposure here is basically limited to an 8 minute walk to the station mid morning and then back home late afternoon. Because it is so short (and because I use a sun umbrella in the morning too) I dont have to worry about too much sunscreen. It is my small chance to get a bit of Vit. D. But in Australia I cannot even poke my nose out the door without slathering it on.

Have you ever tried the Japanese sunscreen called SunKiller? It is dirt cheap and has such a great range ... I am going to try and track it down and get me some (it is made by the same company as KISS ME mascara!!)

Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:04 am

I too have made the mistake years ago of not wearing sunblock - it was just a short walk, etc etc Boy, did I end up regretting it!

This time I had family visiting from Europe and they just didn't want to go home from the beach. Even after reapplying sunblock very frequently, my skin basically had just had enough.

I have heard of sun killer but I haven't tried it. I have used the Anessa SPF50+ though and it was nice. Is the Sun Killer supposed to be better?

free skin care · Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:14 pm

One of our clients had posted a thread (and I can't find it, or I'd link to the article)... About the changes in diet and how they can effect your DNA. So, I would google diet and improve dna, and see what you come up with.

Also, It seems that there is info about using retin-a, and how it helps in removing damaged skin, (ie, remove the damaged cells that would otherwise reproduce and cause cancerous spots)...

Check that out too... I would for you... super busy... but thought I'd through that out there...

Also, I would make sure you get a skin check every year with a derm. My sister is almost see through she's so white, and she's had some really sever sunburns as a kid... she just finally had a scan... and although really freckly in some areas... her dr. did not see anything suspicious...

free skin care · Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:05 pm

Preservatives would also lead to the skin cancer. We all know that the preservative could do harm to all organisms.
Preservatives always exist in lots of skincares, when we apply the skincare onto our skin, the preservative would also be absorbed by our skin.
If we think that face cream could not be lacked, then just try to stop using our body cream, because the body cream is always be applied with a huge amount, and therefore our skin would absorb more preservative.

free skin care · Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:30 am

Tiger_tim,

I'm in the process of researching chemopreventive ingredients, because I'm a classic case for skin cancer and I had my first basal cell carcinoma removed this summer. I posted what I've found in the DIY Skincare category:

http://www.essentialdayspa.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=35387

My goal is to find a good base and add some of these ingredients to it to use all over my body. When I have time, I'm going to prepare a chart so I'll know which ingredients do what and can determine which are best for me. For example, some are not only good for helping to preventing skin cancer but also have anti-aging properties (which I need too).

free skin care · Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:09 am

I think those of you who follow my posts know that I survived Melanoma Skin Cancer diagnosed in 2000. My family used to take us to Florida virtually every year in the spring time, and we got FRIED sitting out at the beach all day. Then, when I became a competitive bodybuilder and moved to Arizona, it became necessary to be as tan as possible so the stage lights didn't "wash out" the muscle definition. To me, that meant laying out in the Arizona sun for hours on end, AND laying in tanning beds at night after my workouts.

I gave myself Melanoma, no doubt about it....

I know the childhood exposures were probably the worst, and I would caution everyone to keep your young children out of the sun as much as possible. It is the "early age" sunburns that do the most damage.

But, the real danger came from the tanning beds!! Never, never, never use the UV tanning beds for any reason.

Also check you body quite often for any moles or dark marks that you may have. If they are larger than a quarter of an inch, if they are a very strange shape, if they are two tones of color, or if they bleed or do not heal, you must have these checked out by a skin and cancer specialist immediately. My mole, on my ankle of all places, was larger than 1/4 of an inch and was also a strange half moon shape. If I had not had it checked, and removed, I would not be here right now. Like Tiger_Tim mentioned, I too had to go through the "wide area excision" and the skin grafts which were painful, and left bad scars.

After that, my desire to create skin care creams and lotions that were extemely compatible with the skin became a passion with me. I have used my products virtually non-stop sincer surviving that scare. I think that skin care... moisturization, re-fatting with the corrreect fatty acids and wax esters, and using a sunscreen is one of the best preventative measures that you can take.

John

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:23 am

I wonder what about Vit. D? It has shown to be a very good source of immunity defense. My Dr. tested mine and I was very low in it. I now take a script strength Vit. D., and feel amazingly better all around.

There are a lot of articles about it in the news.

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