TODAY – With vibrant red hair, pale skin and lots of freckles, Sara McOlvin knew she was vulnerable to skin cancer, but there were even more risk factors to consider.
Melanoma runs on both sides of her family, with one of her grandmothers and an aunt treated for the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Still, McOlvin was shocked when she was diagnosed with melanoma herself at age 23 last summer. The cancerous spot appeared on her left forearm.
“I definitely didn’t think it would happen that young,” McOlvin, who lives in Conway, Arkansas, tells TODAY.com. “I was pretty scared, pretty shocked to hear, ‘You have skin cancer’ at 23.”
Sunlight exposure is a major risk factor. But genetics play a big role, too, says McOlvin’s dermatologist, Dr. Sandra Johnson.
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“She has very, very fair skin, very light hair. So the genetics of having a family history with melanoma raises her risk and then the genetics of having light hair and light skin greatly increase her risk,” says Johnson, who practices in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
McOlvin might still have skin cancer on her arm if not for her alarmed mom and friends.
A mole that ‘just looked weird’
Given McOlvin’s family history, her parents have always preached sunscreen usage, but she didn’t always listen.
“When I was a teenager and I wasn’t around them, I really wouldn’t use it. I wanted to try and tan,” she says.
“A lot of my friends wouldn’t wear sunscreen so I wouldn’t wear sunscreen, and I got sunburned a lot.”
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A couple of years ago, she began paying attention to an unusual spot on her forearm. It consisted of a raised patch of pink skin and contained oblong, irregular freckles “that just looked weird,” she says …