Cosmopolitan Practice Safe Sun
Help Cosmopolitan magazine and the Melanoma Research Foundation practice safe sun and fight skin cancer!
To get your bracelet, click the "give now" button above. You will receive one bracelet for each $10 gift or three for $25.
Please allow 8 to 10 weeks for delivery.
Skin cancer is a serious, often deadly disease. If you have advanced melanoma, your life is measured in months. It’s the fastest growing cancer in the world, and is hitting young women hard. Melanoma is the leading cause of cancer death in women 25 to 30-years old, and the second leading cause of cancer death in women 30 to 35-years old.
We have a three-step approach to stopping this disease:
1) Limit exposure to UV radiation, including tanning beds.
Sunlight and tanning beds expose you to damaging UV rays.
Tanning beds were recently declared carcinogenic, meaning they cause skin cancer. In fact, tanning before age 30 increases your risk of melanoma by as much as 75 percent, and occasionally using tanning beds can triple your chances. And then there’s all the unsightly skin damage (like wrinkles, lines, and broken blood vessels) that comes from UV exposure, whether indoors via a tanning bed or when you go outside without sunscreen. So—practice safe sun. And, sign our Take a Stand, Don’t Tan! pledge.
2) Know your body.
Regardless of your skin color, you have an increased chance of developing melanoma if you have a lot of moles (more than 50). Get to know your skin, particularly any unusual spots. Go to a derm for a skin-cancer screening once a year, and give yourself a monthly once-over (don’t forget areas like your nails, in-between your toes, and your scalp). Tell your derm about spots that look different from the others, are changing colors, or are growing. Other suspicious mole signs: asymmetry (one side doesn’t match the other); a jagged border; being multi-colored or any color other than brown; being wider than a quarter-inch in diameter. No one knows your body like you do, so it’s up to you to take control of your skin and your life!
3) Find better answers.
The last time a drug was approved for treating advanced melanoma was more than a decade ago, and 85 percent of people who take that drug get no benefit from it. We need
solutions and you can help. Your donation today will go towards establishing the Cosmopolitan Melanoma Research Grant. If you give $10 or more to the MRF, you’ll receive a gorgeous matte-gold cord bracelet from Cosmo reminding you to practice safe sun. If you donate $25, you’ll get three bracelets, to give to friends.
Join with Cosmo and the MRF. Together we can find pathways to a cure!
About Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan is the best-selling young women’s magazine in the world. As part of our long-standing commitment to young women’s health, Cosmopolitan has launched Practice Safe Sun, a campaign to raise awareness about the connection between unprotected UV exposure and skin cancer. For more about safe-sun strategies, go to www.cosmopolitan.com/pss.