Former Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres, 45, has thrilled supporters and fans with her amazing dance moves at the Sunday night finale of Univision’s “Mira Quién Baila All Stars” (“MQBAS”) amid her metastatic melanoma journey.
Read MoreSince being diagnosed in February 2019, Torres has used her vast platform on social media — she has 1.4 million followers — to raise awareness about skin cancer and, specifically, melanoma.
"If you have doubts about a new mole that is growing, has different colors, uneven border… please call your doctor or dermatologist! … Early detection is key!"
‘Never Forget to Take Care of Yourself’
Melanoma is significantly easier to treat when it’s detected early. Torres said she’d noticed a mole on the back of her leg, but had put off getting it checked.
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“My fiancé Louis had been begging me to have it checked & finally made an appointment himself… after a biopsy & a second surgery last Tuesday the results, unfortunately are positive,” she wrote in the Instagram post below, to share her diagnosis.
The Deadliest Form of Skin Cancer
Most cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, are caused by sun exposure. Dr. Anna Pavlick, NYU medical oncologist and a Professor of Medicine and Dermatology at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, said that melanoma is particularly dangerous because the disease has a tendency to spread to other parts of the body. About 90% of all melanomas are caused by excessive ultraviolet radiation.
In her post, Torres did note that "melanoma is the most serious cancer of all, it can spread out to any other areas in your body, and even worse, to any organ, as it runs through your lymphatic system."
Spreading Melanoma Awareness
Dr. Cecilia Larocca, a dermatologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an instructor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School, told SurvivorNet in a previous interview that people should devote time every month to checking the body for any new or changing moles that may indicate skin cancer – and using the acronym ABCDE as a checklist:
- Asymmetrical moles: if you drew a line straight down the center of the mole, would the sides match?
- Borders: irregular, jagged, not smooth; can also stand for bleeding
- Colors: multiple distinct colors in the mole
- Diameter: larger than 6mm, about the size of a pencil head eraser
- Evolution: This may be the most important, anything that is changing over time such as gaining color, losing color, painful, itching, hurting, changing shape, etc.
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