Age spots are common among elderly people who have made a living farming, but such brown marks can also be a symptom of skin cancer, as in the case of an 80-year-old farmer from Greater Taichung, a plastic surgeon warned recently.
The man, surnamed Liu (劉), has been farming for nearly six decades, so when a dark brown spot appeared on his nose, he dismissed it as an age spot caused by long-term exposure to sunlight, according to Tung’s Taichung Metroharbor Hospital plastic surgeon Chen Shih-yi (陳世宜).
“After the spot gradually swelled and grew larger, Liu approached me asking to have the mark removed with a laser device. However, as the spot looked suspicious, I ordered a biopsy that later confirmed it to be a basal cell carcinoma,” Chen said.
As it was detected early, the carcinoma was surgically removed and there has yet to be any sign of recurrence or metastasis, Chen said.
Chen said basal cell carcinoma is one of the three major types of skin cancers, along with squamous carcinoma and malignant melanoma, but it is the most common type.
“Basal cell carcinoma has a relatively low risk of metastasis and is primarily triggered by long-term exposure to ultraviolet rays, which is why 80 percent of cases are on the face and neck,” Chen said, adding that farmers, fishermen and outdoor workers are high-risk groups for this kind of cancer.
Chen said exposure to artificial ultraviolet radiation, tanning lights, or substances such as asphalt and tar can also increase the risk of skin cancer.
“In the early stages, skin cancer is usually asymptomatic and looks like a mole or hyperpigmented macule. People are urged to seek medical attention if any of their moles start to swell, ulcerate, change color or size, or become asymmetrical,” Chen said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching