Educational Video Improves Hairdressers’ Ability to Detect Skin Cancer

Source: Healio, December 2017

An educational video significantly improved hairdressers’ knowledge of melanoma warning signs and their confidence in their ability to identify potentially cancerous skin lesions, according to study results.
“Half of melanomas go undetected by self-inspection, and those undetected occur frequently on the scalp and neck,” Neda R. Black, MD, of University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues wrote. “We have previously provided a rationale for the role of hairdressers, a group that makes daily observations of the scalp and neck, in the detection of [scalp and neck] melanomas in the general population.”
Prior research identified knowledge gaps in hairdressers’ ability to identify signs and symptoms of melanoma; however, most hairdressers expressed a desire to learn more about melanoma detection.