Some Scientists Say Too Much Reliance on Sunscreens May Be Contributing to Increasing Incidences of Skin Cancer

Patti Davis on Sister Maureen Reagan: "I Don't Know When We Dropped the 'Half' and Referred to Ourselves as Sisters; It's Only Important That We Did"

It was also in the middle of the presidential campaign. "That was a really hard, frightening time," says Cindy McCain in a joint Newsweek interview, the first time they've spoken about his battle against cancer and how it affected his life and family. "There were people around us every minute of the day, and most of the night, a lot of times, and we didn't have time to talk privately." When McCain finally told his wife what was happening, they still didn't know how serious it was. "They would have to do more tests and remove lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread to other parts of his body," Cindy McCain says. "That was the big fear. One of the worst parts was that our kids first heard about the tumor on CNN. Our 16-year-old daughter called, crying, wanting to know what was going on."

She says McCain tried his best to lighten the mood. "But there was no avoiding thinking about what might happen. The day of the operation was very hard. He was in surgery for about nine hours," she says in the August 20 Newsweek cover package, "My Battle With Skin Cancer" (on newsstands Monday, August 13) about McCain's fight with the disease. The package includes a report on the increase in skin cancer cases each year nationally, new treatments and how to stay safe under the sun.

McCain, who while growing up would get bad sunburns with blisters on his back, now is a sunscreen devotee and won't let his kids go out without it. "I coat SPF 30 on myself first thing in the morning, and wear long sleeves and a hat whenever I'm in the sun." Cindy McCain adds, "He even yells at our friends, 'Put on a hat!' As you can imagine, I'm pretty vigilant about checking him over for signs of new blemishes. I'm worse than the FBI."

This year, the American Cancer Society estimates, 51,400 people will be diagnosed with melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, and 7,800 will die from it, Kalb reports. Melanoma strikes at more than twice the rate (14.3 cases per 100,000 people) today as it did three decades ago. But doctors say those numbers could be cut if Americans knew more about how to protect themselves against the disease -- and if they were better informed about how to detect it in its earliest stages, when the odds for long-term survival are excellent.

While sunscreens can offer good defense against burns, some scientists believe they may be contributing to the skin cancer rates, General Editor Claudia Kalb reports in the cover package. It's not because they don't work, but because people use far too little, then bake in the sun far too long. "People think this little bit of cream can block that big ball of fire in the sky," says Dr. Kathy Fields, a San Francisco dermatologist. "No way."

Better public awareness about sun protection and changes in moles and lesions could cut incidence of skin cancer and scientists are now testing new technology to make detection more sophisticated, Kalb reports. Digital cameras can take pictures of lesions, magnify them, then store them on a hard drive so the images can be compared visit to visit, much like doctors use "baseline" mammograms. One experimental device compares information about the lesion (size, color, depth) to a database of benign and cancerous moles, then predicts the likelihood of cancer. Another device is a picture so precise it might one day be sent as a digital biopsy through the computer to a pathologist for immediate diagnosis.

For patients battling the disease now, there are promising advances in treatment, Kalb reports. A drug called imiquimoid, used to treat genital warts, cleared up superficial basal-cell carninomas (flat and scaly, typically appear on the face) in about 90 percent of patients in a pilot study. Another experimental compound, dimicerine, may even prevent non-melanomas from forming in the first place.

Also in the package, Patti Davis writes a moving tribute to her half-sister, Maureen Reagan, who died last week from melanoma at age 60. Davis writes that none of their childhood bickering and clamoring for their father's attention matters now. "I don't know when Maureen and I dropped the word 'half' and began referring to ourselves as sisters; it's only important that we did." She writes that last month, while visiting her in the hospital, "I sat beside her and said, 'I'm so sorry this is happening to you.' The cancer that had begun with melanoma was invading her brain. In reply, Maureen simply smiled and said, 'I know.'"

ST: New York, District of Columbia, Arizona