Open AccessKnowledge, Understanding, and Use of Preventive Strategies against Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer in Healthy and Immunosuppressed Individuals Undergoing Mohs Surgery
Author(s) -
Goldenberg Alina,
Nguyen Bichchau Thi,
Brian Jiang Shang I.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
dermatologic surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.659
H-Index - 125
eISSN - 1524-4725
pISSN - 1076-0512
DOI - 10.1111/dsu.12399
Subject(s) - skin cancer , medicine , mohs surgery , dermatology , incidence (geometry) , family medicine , cancer , physics , optics
Background Despite various national recommendations advising individuals to reduce their exposure to ultraviolet radiation, many people still do not use these skin cancer prevention strategies. Objectives To assess patient sources of medical information, knowledge of sun protection strategies, and barriers to implementing these strategies and to compare the overall rate of use of skin cancer prevention strategies of healthy and immunocompromised patients. Materials and Methods Survey‐based study conducted on 140 individuals undergoing Mohs surgery. Results Seventy‐three percent of healthy and 74% of immunosuppressed participants identified sunscreen use as a form of protective strategy, whereas 36% and 27%, respectively, used sunscreen daily. Participants cited physicians and the internet as equal sources of medical information. Knowing two or more strategies correlated to a higher self‐rating of daily use of any protective strategy. Conclusion General knowledge regarding sun protection strategies is limited, but awareness of multiple strategies correlated with greater sun protective behavior. Despite having a much higher incidence of skin cancers, the immunosuppressed group did not show more awareness of prevention strategies or higher use than healthy participants.