from the Winter 2007 issue
Congratulations to all the marathon runners who competed in the Houston Marathon on January 14. Now that the race is over, you should run over to the dermatologist’s office for a complete skin exam. A new study by dermatologists at the Medical University of Graz in Austria shows that marathoners have an increased risk of developing melanoma, the most dangerous skin cancer.
The researchers studied 210 white male and female marathoners aged 19 to 71, comparing their melanoma risks against 210 age-and-gender-matched white men and women who were not distance runners. All were given total-body skin exams and surveyed about their sun exposure history.
Runners had more “atypical” moles (usually large, asymmetrical, irregularly-bordered moles with varied colors), more lesions suggestive of basal and squamous cell carcinoma, and more solar lentigines – so-called age spots that really result from sun damage. All of these are risk factors for melanoma.
The study’s authors attributed the increased risk of melanoma to a combination of excessive exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays and depleted immunity from all the high-intensity exercise, which may have left them more vulnerable to skin damage. With this increased vulnerability, all you marathoners should wear your sunscreen every time you run and should have a full-body exam on a regular basis so that your skin stays healthy for the long run.
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