Skin cancer...on the eye???

Slip Slop Slap and Sid the Seagull... that was the Sunsmart crusade against skin cancer in the 80s when I was growing up.

Nowadays it's slip, slop, slap, seek and slide... slide standing for slide on some sunglasses. Why? Because your eye has skin and you can get skin cancers on your eye as well.

Skin cancer..... on the eyeball??? That's usually the reaction I get from my patients when I tell them. Yet I diagnose a new patient with a eye skin cancer or squamous cell carcinoma every month. How common it is in Australia, no one exactly knows. The typical person at risk is a Caucasian older male who has spent his life outdoors or working near the water. But I see young guys too, some of them as young as 30.

Fortunately non surgical treatments such as "chemotherapy" drops can be effective but prevention is always better than cure. So best to slide on those sunglasses and protect your eyes... it looks cool too :)

* Information on this blog is general in nature and should not be taken as professional medical advice or as a substitute for a consultation with a medical professional.