To help identify any suspicious moles that may be cancerous, the ABCDE rule is used. This rule can be applied during an at-home skin cancer check to help individuals detect potentially cancerous moles early, when the chances of successful treatment are high. The rule details how a mole should look and provides markers that may indicatea mole has become unusual interms of growth or appearance. Skin cancer is an abnormal growth of skin cellsthat typically occurs on body parts that have had a lot of sun exposure, such as the scalp, hands, chest, arms, ears and neck. However, it’s also possible for skin cancer to appear in areas that don’t receive much sunlight, including the palms of the hands and the genital areas. 

To make sureskin cancer is caught early, it’s a good idea to use the ABCDE rulewhen checking your skin. Fortunately, the rule is easy to use when conducting a skin cancer check in the comfort of your own home. However, it’s important to examine your entire body when using the ABCDE rule, including genital areas. This is because skin cancer can hide in unlikely places as well as areas that get a lot of sun exposure. Continue reading to learn the steps of the ABCDE rule.

A – Asymmetry

A normal mole or freckleon the skinis symmetrical. Look at the shape of your mole and in your mind; draw a line through the middle of it. If both halves mirror each otheron either side of the central line, then it’s likely that the mole is healthyand normal. Skin cancer moles are typically irregular in shape, meaning each side is different to the other. However, it’s important to note that asymmetrydoesn’t always indicate skin cancer, as someirregular birthmarks can be perfectly safe. For peace of mind, you can arrange a skin cancer check with a trained professional. 

B – Border

It’s important to look atthe borderof a potentially suspicious mole. Normal moles, spots and beauty marks on the skin will be round and have clean edges. Moles that are cancerous will often have aborder that’s jagged or blurry.  

C – Colour

Healthy moles are typicallya single colour, while suspicious moles can be a variety of colours or might change coloursuddenly. If you’re concerned about the colour of a mole, it’s best to get it checked by a professional. 

D – Diameter

If a mole is larger than 6mm, it should be assessed by a doctor. Even if a moleisn’t unusual in any other way, it should be checked it it’s bigger than 6mm.

E – Elevation

If a mole orskin growth is elevatedand raised up from the skin’s surface, this can be a sign of skin cancer. If a mole changes in size, elevation or texture,make sure you get it checked out. This is especially important if your mole looks different from other moles on your body. 

There is a common saying that drug addiction is an illness, and as such, it is hard to go recovery alone. Therefore, when choosing to put recovery front and center, you may need to find additional help from sober living facilities, which are dedicated to your sobriety and getting you healthy. However, when searching for the right recovery house, make sure that each one has the following five things.

1. Support Staff

Every recovery house rockville md should have a reliable and dedicated support staff. Essentially, you want to find a house where the team is compassionate, but where they are also not afraid to tell it like it is and enforce the rules.

2. Responsibility

Also, any sober living facility you are looking into should offer a personalized recovery plan that instills a level of responsibility. That responsibility needs to go beyond recovery. You should find a facility that expects you to contribute to the community.

3. Peer Development

Recovery is more than staying off of drugs; it is about finding a peer group that is going to support your new lifestyle and not enable your bad habits. Therefore, find a recovery home where peer and social development are paramount.

4. Safety

Your recovery, especially in the beginning, is going to be difficult and stressful. You do not need to worry about anything other than your health during this time, which is why you need to find a place where security is a top concern.

5. Structure

Last, you want to find a house where they demand adherence to structure. You need to find ways to entertain your thoughts during the quiet, dark moments, and the best way to do that is by having other things to do, like chores or group activities.

While one type of facility is not best for everyone, most recovering addicts benefit from houses that adhere to the five above attributes. Don’t put your recovery in jeopardy by entering a house that doesn’t put your recovery first. 

Surgical lasers are used in modern medicine to replace scalpel blades. They are able to deliver precise incisions and work in more complex areas that a conventional scalpel blade cannot reach. Surgery on the urinary system can include the delicate tissues of the bladder, kidneys or prostate, and urology lasers can improve the techniques used for these procedures.

Lithotripsy

Lithotripsy is the medical destruction and removal of stones. Urinary stones can develop at any point within the urinary system, from the kidneys to the urethra, which is the small tube from which urine leaves the body. If stones are too difficult to pass or causing damage to surrounding tissues, laser lithotripsy is a nonsurgical option for treatment. During lithotripsy, a laser endoscope is passed through the urethra into the urinary system. Using specific wavelengths, the laser breaks the stones into smaller pieces that can then be removed surgically or be passed naturally.

Urinary Strictures

Sometimes, due to previous damage or disease, the urethra can become unnaturally narrow. This narrowing, also called a stricture, can cause obstruction of urine exiting the bladder, leading to patient discomfort. Urethroplasty and endoscopic urethrotomy are two techniques that use urology lasers to resolve strictures. With urethroplasty, the narrowed area of the urethra is removed and reconstructed, allowing for a smoother passage of urine. During endoscopic urethrotomy, a laser works from within the urethra to dissolve the excess tissue causing the stricture.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

In men, the prostate gland is located around the urethra. If the prostate becomes enlarged, it can cause partial obstruction of the bladder. Lasers are used to decrease the amount of prostatic tissue that surrounds the urethra, allowing for complete emptying of the bladder.

When used on the urinary system, urology lasers can turn major surgery into a non-invasive procedure that requires less time inside a hospital. By using lasers to improve these surgical procedures, surgeons can be more efficient and patients can recover faster.