Phoenix tattoo artist is helping clients find signs of melanoma: 'We got your back'
PHOENIX - As summer approaches, and we spend more time in the sun, the risk for skin cancer increases, but a Phoenix tattoo artist is to thank helping clients identify signs of cancer on their bodies.
As part of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, May 1 is Melanoma Monday. The goal is to raise awareness for skin cancer and ways to prevent it.
One in five Americans will develop skin cancer by the age of 70.
FOX 10 caught up with skin experts, from those in the medical field as well those you might not expect.
Josh Gargalione, spends his days – well, staring at your back.
"Anybody that’s a professional artist I would say, yeah we got your back," he said. He’s been tattooing for the last 21 years helping clients add a touch of color to their skin, as well as spotting unwanted colors.
Josh Gargalione, Phoenix tattoo artist
"Things you want to look out for is like weird patches and that’s what I look out for on people's skin," he said.
Both his grandfather and father dealt with melanoma skin cancer, so now every client that comes into his shop, he checks them over.
"Approximately 13 years ago, I had a client, I was doing a tattoo, but not near the area where I saw the melanoma, but I told her, I said, ‘Hey look, there’s this irregular patch on this, and I know what I'm talking about because of experience with my family. Go get this looked at please.' Came back about two months later said, ‘Yeah, a doctor did a biopsy and the tests came back cancerous and they ended up cutting the rest of it out,’" Gargalione said.
Melanoma causes more than 8,000 deaths per year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Experts say look out for the warning signs.
"So if the mole that you are looking at is perfectly symmetrical, it's less suspicious. If its mirror image is a weird shape, more suspicious. The border is perfectly smooth, less suspicious, if its irregular like fingerlike projections, more suspicious," Dr. Pablo Prichard, cofounder of Vincere Cancer Center explained.
Experts at the Vincere Cancer Center in Scottsdale helps treat and prevent all cancers, but skin cancer is one of their most common. They partner with some of the most at-risk people, including several fire departments across the state.
"Right now, we are picking up one cancer a week, so when we started the program it was 10, 12, 15, but now we are up to 50 cancers a year, which is amazing a majority of these cancers are under the age of 50 when cancer screenings are not even recommended," Dr. Vershalee Shukla said.
Experts say the best things you can do is wear long breathable clothes, and a hat. Also, pick mineral based sunscreens with 35-40 spf, apply every two hours.
A good rule of thumb, they say, is to apply about a shot glass full of sunscreen to the entire body.