Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) May 22, 2014
Movie star Hugh Jackman isn’t the only Aussie talking about the importance of skin cancer early detection.
The Hollywood heartthrob who has appeared as the Wolverine in every X-Men movie over the past 14 years confirmed that he’d recently had his 2nd skin cancer removed; a slow growing yet dangerous Basil Cell Carcinoma (BCC) from the right side of his nose.
“It’s out, it's fixed. It's all about catching these things early," he said. "But the beauty of this is it's all preventable; it's just about getting proper check-ups”.
Paul Elmslie, a fellow Australian and CEO of skin cancer education provider HealthCert International agreed, saying prevention is critical in trying to mitigate the rapidly growing incidences of skin cancer in the United States.
“The lingering misconception that a golden glow is healthy has created a certain degree of apathy. People of all ages need to be vigilant and ensure they are well-protected from the sun's damaging UV rays,” he said.
“It’s also important that people have a regular full body skin check performed by a trained and qualified medical provider to carefully screen for any suspicious lesions,” Mr. Elmslie added. “What can look to the untrained eye like an innocuous little spot or mole can often be something much more serious like a deadly melanoma”.
In the case of Jackman, it was only after a make-up artist noticed something unusual and at the urging of his wife that he had it looked at by an expert. “The whole time, I thought it was not much, but only afterwards did they say ‘You’re really lucky you got it checked out now,’” Jackman revealed.
Mr. Elmslie said the knowledge and experience his company had gained in training over 5,000 general and family doctors in Australia placed the company in a position of authority to help with the expansion of essential skin cancer management skills into the US primary care health system by providing a number of specialized, university certified post graduate education programs.
“Creating public awareness of the dangers is only one aspect in trying to alleviate the issue. Of critical importance is to ensure that all Americans have access to convenient and affordable professional care. Our communities need more medical providers with the skills and confidence to diagnose and manage skin cancer. After all, it’s the most common cancer in America, yet also one of the easiest forms of cancer to treat if detected early. It’s a fact; early detection of skin cancer saves lives,” he said.
Jackman, the Golden Globe, Emmy and Tony award-winning star of stage and screen, urged fans to be proactive. "Please don't be foolish like me. Get yourself checked. I can be a typical man, a little lazy, I couldn't be bothered, and now I'm not lazy at all. Get checkups, wear sunscreen. It's all about prevention".
Skin Cancer – 3 Quick Facts
1. Approximately 20% of the US population will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
2. Over 3.5 million skin cancers are removed from 2 million individuals annually.
3. In excess of 10,000 people lose their lives every year – more than one person every hour of every day.
For more information on the range of post graduate education programs conducted by HealthCert International in collaboration with the University of Queensland (including details on the next two day weekend workshop being held in Boston, MA on May 31 & June 1), please visit http://www.skincancercourses.com/.
For general information on skin cancer, please visit http://www.skincancer.org/.
About HealthCert International
HealthCert is dedicated to enhancing medical knowledge by delivering high quality medical education programs to medical practitioners globally. By partnering with knowledge leaders, our university certified programs have provided valuable knowledge and skills to over 5,000 medical providers over the past 8 years.