SKIN CANCER LINK TO CHILDHOOD ABUSE

As a plastic surgeon practicing in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, Florida, I must review a lot of medical literature. That led me to an article appearing in Archives of General Psychiatry quoting a study saying people who experienced parental abuse or neglect as children were at a much higher risk of developing skin cancer when they face stressful moments in their lives.  

This was due to a decrease in their body’s immune response to skin cancers.  

The greater the immune response, the fewer incidents of skin cancer.  This clearly is an example of how early childhood neglect or abuse can effect one’s life in later years.