The beach, the pool, the bed. There are plenty of places to get a tan. Deb Fischer used to know them all.
"I tanned like it was my job. I would lay out on my roof. I would lay on tin foil, baby oil. I would go to the tan beds," said Deb Fischer.
But all that sun exposure put Fischer's health at risk At age 21, she was diagnosed with melanoma. Since then, she's had dozens of biopsies to check if other moles were cancerous.
"I have scars all over my body," said Fischer. "I probably have at least 40 scars."
Now, there's an easier, pain-free way to check suspicious moles. It's called MelaFind.
"It really helps us decide which lesions need to be biopsied," explained Dr. Philip Bailin, dermatologist at Cleveland Clinic.
The scanner transmits 10 different wavelengths of light into the skin and takes an image of the patient's mole. That image is compared to others in a database of more than 10,000 lesions.
"It's about 98 percent sensitive, and that's far more sensitive than the average dermatologist," Bailin said.
The test takes less than a minute.
"The patients are very thankful for this. It saves them biopsies," Bailin explained.
Fischer now wears sunscreen every day, and as a dermatology nurse, she educates others about the risks of skin cancer.
"I am a huge proponent of prevention," Fischer said.
She's hoping her efforts and this device will save her skin from any more cutting.
If MelaFind shows that a patient has a high probability for melanoma, he or she will still need a biopsy to confirm that the lesion is cancerous.
The database is constantly being updated and new images are added from patients all over the country.
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