OHSU declares ‘war on melanoma’

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon Health & Science University has declared a ‘war on melanoma’ and is recruiting unusual foot soldiers for the job — hair dressers, makeup artists, masseurs, nail technicians and tattoo artists.

Oregon has one of the worst rates of skin cancer in the nation, so the idea is to educate professionals whose jobs involve looking at skin to the warning signs of melanoma.

OPB reports that OHSU is having a fair this weekend to raise awareness and add more skin-care volunteers to their program.

Sancy Leachman, chair of the dermatology department at OHSU, has 8,000 Oregonians to a skin care registry.

She plans to use a baseline from the registry to study if the skin care workers make any difference in early melanoma detection.

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Information from: KOPB-FM, http://news.opb.org