Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Darrell Rigel, Laura Turner, Tyler Vickrey
Aired July 07, 2002 - 08:35 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, despite warnings of skin cancer and premature aging, young people continue to hit the beach, the pool and the backyard to get a tan. Teens apparently aren't getting the message, though. The more sun exposure when you're young, the more likely you're able to get skin cancer later in life.
Joining us from New York, Dr. Darrell Rigel, a dermatologist, who just returned from a major conference in Paris. Also, Laura Turner, a teen tanner, and from Tennessee, 15-year-old Tyler Vickrey, who knows firsthand the dangers of too much sun.
Good morning to all three of you.
LAURA TURNER, TEEN SUN WORSHIPER: Good morning.
DR. DARRELL RIGEL, DERMATOLOGIST, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Doctor, let's start with you and the conference that you just attended. Any new information?
RIGEL: We, as dermatologists, see this problem every day. We see what happens when people get sun at a young age and we see the skin cancer issues later in life.
One American dies every hour of skin cancer. And that's really a profound fact.
What we found at the conference -- this is not only just a U.S. problem but it's a worldwide problem.
PHILLIPS: So what was tossed around with regard to ways to try and prevent people from feeling like they always have to be tanning -- it's an addiction?
RIGEL: It truly is. And it really is sad because skin cancer is perhaps the most clear cut case of a cancer where early detection and treatment are key.
If you catch it early and you treat it early then it's really not so bad. But once it has spread there's no good treatment. And the key thing is we know what causes it -- it's sun exposure early in life -- the less you do, the less your risk.
PHILLIPS: All right, Laura -- I know you love to sunbathe. Tell me how often you do?
TURNER: When I go on vacation and sometimes I go to the tanning salon, lay in the park as often as I can pretty much.
PHILLIPS: And you do have a beautiful tan, I do have to admit. Why do you think you need to be tan?
TURNER: I just think that it makes me feel prettier, it makes me feel like I glow, it makes me look healthier I think and most of my friends feel that way. I think it's just a matter of the way you look. You look better in clothing -- it just looks better.
PHILLIPS: Are you worried about long term effects from the sun?
TURNER: Sometimes but not generally.
PHILLIPS: All right -- well, we're going to get some advice to you. We're going to go over to Tyler. Tyler knows firsthand, though, when you're out in the sun too much.
Tyler, what would you say to someone like Laura?
TYLER VICKREY, SKIN CANCER SURVIVOR: This -- take all of the precautions you can and just stay out of the sun as much as possible because it will really cause you trouble later on.
PHILLIPS: So, Tyler, what happened to you?
VICKREY: I had a -- there was a mole on my back that -- it kept getting aggravated. And after a few -- I had a few bad sunburns on my shoulders to the point of blisters and it would bleed just rubbing up against my shirt. So we decided to get it taken off.
And when they biopsied it, it came back melanoma.
PHILLIPS: Now, Darrell, what would you say to someone like Laura, because I remember I grew up in southern California and it's true -- you think you look much better, you look more healthy when you have a tan?
What would you say to her, first of all, about the tanning that she does do and what are her options?
RIGEL: Well, there are a couple things. One is -- there's no such thing as a safe tan. In order to get tan your skin has to be hit with ultraviolet radiation in such a way that the cells in the skin sense they're being injured and produce the tan to protect themselves.
If you really want to be tan, use tan out of a bottle -- use an artificial tanner. That's just stain -- it doesn't hurt you, you look almost as good. But don't go to a tanning salon, don't just bake for baking's sake and listen to what Tyler said because hopefully it can make a difference to many of our young Americans in the long run.
PHILLIPS: Laura, what do you think -- self-tanner?
TURNER: I use it.
PHILLIPS: I've got to tell you something -- you should see the freckles and all the sun damage that I have. It's not attractive. Now I'm in my mid 30s and I don't even feel comfortable getting into a bathing suit. Are you listening to me?
TURNER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Tyler, when you were diagnosed, what kind of treatment did you have to have? What did you have to go through?
VICKREY: Well, I went to the Vanderbilt Medical University in Nashville. And the oncologists there gave me a treatment called interferon. And what it does is it boosts your immune system to fight off any future cancer.
And I had to take over a year of it through an IV. And I just -- I had to take a month of really big doses and then 11 months of injections at home, which I gave myself. But the effects were flu- like symptoms for over a year straight -- so ...
PHILLIPS: And you had to give ...
VICKREY: ... really sick.
PHILLIPS: ... yourself those injections?
VICKREY: Yeah.
PHILLIPS: How often?
VICKREY: Three times a week.
PHILLIPS: Wow! Darrell, is Tyler out of the woods?
RIGEL: Well, I don't know the details of his case but with melanoma unfortunately you're never totally out of the woods.
And, again, it's so frustrating because, just as you said, Kyra, you see those freckles on your shoulder and you wish you could have not done what you did as a teenager.
When you're a teenager you're immortal in most cases and it's very hard to get the message out protecting yourself in the sun lowers your risk of melanoma later in life.
Certainly sometimes the message works if you say when you're 30 you don't want to look 50. They might listen to that a little bit.
But we really wish we could get the message out because it is such a preventable cancer if you take some steps early on.
PHILLIPS: Laura, what do your parents say to you?
TURNER: My parents both sunbathe as much as they can as well. I've just pretty much grown up being a sun goddess -- my mom is, my dad is -- it's just the way I am.
But we all use sun screen but two, four, six maybe.
PHILLIPS: Tyler, do you ever get a chance to go out in the sun very much anymore or do you have to really cover?
VICKREY: Any time -- my cousin has a pool and any time I go swimming I just go for a little bit. And I have to always wear a shirt and literally cake sun screen on my arms and my face and anywhere that's exposed to the sun.
And I'm always either wearing a visor and sunglass or a hat.
PHILLIPS: Wow! And, Darrell, is -- are tanning salons any worse than being out in the sun or is the sun actually worse than a tanning salon? Can you even make a comparison?
RIGEL: Well, it's really -- they're both bad. There's no such thing as a safe tan. The tanning salons that say you're getting the safer rays really isn't true because you're getting artificial rays that are probably 300 to 400 times stronger than you would get those same rays in natural sunlight.
So, again, in order to get tanned you have to be injured. If you're desperate to be tan, use an artificial tanner -- a tan out of the bottle. At least that way you're not getting the damage. But also remember the tan you get from an artificial tan doesn't protect you from sun burning so you still have to use sunscreen on top of it.
PHILLIPS: All right, Laura, are you listening now?
TURNER: I am.
PHILLIPS: Look, you are a beautiful, beautiful young lady. You've got to trust all of us that spent so much time in the sun. You want to keep that young look, OK?
TURNER: OK -- thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right. Tyler, Laura, Darrell -- all three of you -- thank you so much. Appreciate the advice and the insight.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
