Melanoma screening available

The IU Health Center will provide free melanoma screenings for students at 2 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union. This is the first year the Health Center has provided the screenings free to students.\nThe screenings will continue until 4:30 p.m. and will be in the Charter Room on the Mezzanine floor of the IMU. Dr. Matthew Reeck, a physician from the Dermatology Center of Southern Indiana, will be conducting the screenings. \nAnne Reese, the director of Health and Wellness Education, said pre-med student Megan Landis helped organize the screenings in hopes of making more students aware of skin cancer. \nLandis, a senior, said she wants students to think about the risks of tanning, both in the sun and in tanning beds. \n"I was interested in organizing this to increase awareness for other college students," Landis said. "The more I read about and saw the many negative effects of a sun exposure, I saw how damaging it really is."\nLandis said most screenings are held in May, but this would leave out most IU students. She planned the screenings this month because spring break is a few weeks away. \nAccording to the National Cancer Institute, the first sign of melanoma is a change in size, shape, color or feel of an existing mole. Changes in skin or moles should be reported to a doctor immediately. Although there is no cure, surgery is often used to treat melanoma.\nKyle Reid, a Bloomington resident, has experienced surgery for melanoma. Reid developed skin cancer on a college spring break trip to Panama City, Fla. One afternoon, Reid had too much to drink and decided to venture out to the beach for some sun. Shortly after laying down, Reid said he passed out and remained asleep in the same position for two hours. \nWhen he woke up he was very red and uncomfortable, but did not think anything was wrong. He did not want to ruin the rest of his trip, so he continued to go out in the sun for the remaining three days he was there. A few weeks after Reid arrived back from his trip, his girlfriend noticed the mole on his back had changed color. To address his girlfriend's fears, he decided to visit a dermatologist. He said the doctor told him he had developed melanoma and he would have to have the mole surgically removed. \n"I am so aware of the sun now," Reid said. "I have two kids and I watch them carefully to make sure that they always have plenty of very high sunblock on anytime they are in the sun." \nAccording to the Melanoma Research Foundation, every hour of every day of the year, someone in the U.S. dies of melanoma. The chance of someone in the U.S. developing melanoma sometime during their lifetime is one in 75. It is the most common cancer for women ages 25 to 29.\nLandis said she hopes this screening will help students become more aware of protection from the sun.\n"I really think that even if people just stop by the (IMU) and see the information, then this screening will have an impact"