Moles

Moles are growths on the skin. They happen when pigment cells in the skin, called melanocytes, grow in clusters. Moles are very common. Most people have between 10 and 40 moles. A person may develop new moles from time to time, usually until about age 40. In older people, they tend to fade away.

Moles are usually pink, tan or brown. They can be flat or raised. They are usually round or oval and no larger than a pencil eraser.

About one out of every ten people has at least one unusual (or atypical) mole that looks different from an ordinary mole. They are called dysplastic nevi. They may be more likely than ordinary moles to develop into melanoma, a type of skin cancer. You should have a health care professional check your moles if they look unusual, grow larger, change in color or outline, or in any other way.

NIH: National Cancer Institute

Pituitary Tumors

Your pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland at the base of your brain. The pituitary is the "master control gland" - it makes hormones that affect growth and the functions of other glands in the body.

Pituitary tumors are common, but often they don't cause health problems. Most people with pituitary tumors never even know they have them. The most common type of pituitary tumor produces hormones and disrupts the balance of hormones in your body. This can cause endocrine diseases such as Cushing's syndrome and hyperthyroidism.

Symptoms of pituitary tumors include:

• Headaches
• Vision problems
• Nausea and vomiting
• Problems caused by the production of too many hormones

Pituitary tumors are usually curable. Treatment is often surgery to remove the tumor. Other options include medicines, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.

Tanning

Can a tan be healthy?

Some people think that tanning gives them a healthy glow. But tanning, either outdoors or indoors with a tanning bed, is not healthy at all. It exposes you to harmful rays and puts you at risk for health problems such as melanoma and other skin cancers.

Sunlight travels to earth as a mixture of both visible and invisible rays. Some of the rays are harmless to people. But one kind, ultraviolet (UV) rays, can cause problems. They are a form of radiation. UV rays do help your body make vitamin D, but too much exposure damages your skin. Most people can get the vitamin D that they need with only about 5 to 15 minutes of sun exposure two to three times a week.

There are three types of UV rays. Two of them, UVA and UVB, can reach the earth's surface and affect your skin. Using a tanning bed also exposes you to UVA and UVB.

UVB rays can cause sunburn. UVA rays can travel more deeply into the skin than UVB rays. When your skin is exposed to UVA, it tries to protect itself from further damage. It does this by making more melanin, which is the skin pigment that makes your skin darker. That's what gives you a tan. This means that your tan is a sign of skin damage.

Since tanning means overexposure to UV rays, it can damage your skin and cause health problems such as:

• Premature skin aging, which can cause your skin to become thickened, leathery, and wrinkled. You may also have dark spots on your skin. These happen because long-term exposure to UV rays makes your skin less elastic. The more sun exposure you have, the earlier your skin ages.
• Skin cancers, including melanoma. This can happen because the UV light damages the DNA of your skin cells and interferes with your body's ability to fight the cancer.
• Actinic keratosis, a thick, scaly patch of skin that usually forms on areas exposed to the sun, such as the face, scalp, back of the hands, or chest. It can eventually become cancerous.
• Eye damage, including cataracts and photokeratitis (snow blindness)
• A weakened immune system, which can increase your sensitivity to sunlight, decrease the effects of vaccines, and cause you to have reactions to certain medicines.

• Limit sun exposure. Try to stay out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when its rays are strongest. But remember that you still get sun exposure when you are outside on cloudy days or are in the shade.
• Use sunscreen with sun protective factor (SPF) 15 or higher. It should also be a broad-spectrum sunscreen, which means that it gives you both UVA and UVB protection. If you have very light skin, use SPF 30 or higher. Apply sunscreen 20-30 minutes before going outside and reapply it at least every 2 hours.
• Wear sunglasses that block both UVA and UVB rays. Wrap-around sunglasses work best because they block UV rays from sneaking in from the side.
• Wear a hat. You can get the best protection with a wide-brimmed hat that is made out of a tightly woven fabric, such as canvas.
• Wear protective clothing such as long-sleeved shirts and long pants and skirts. Clothes made from tightly woven fabric offer the best protection.

It is also important to check your skin once a month. If you do see any new or changing spots or moles, go see your health care provider.

Indoor tanning is not better than tanning in the sun; it also exposes you to UV rays and damages your skin. Tanning beds use UVA light, so they expose you to a higher concentration of UVA rays than you would get by tanning in the sun. Tanning lights also expose you to some UVB rays.

Some people think that getting a "base tan" in a tanning salon can protect you when you go in the sun. But a "base tan" causes damage to your skin and will not prevent you from getting sunburn when you go outside.

Indoor tanning is particularly dangerous for younger people. You have a higher risk of melanoma if you started doing indoor tanning while you were a teen or young adult.

Some research shows that frequent tanning may even be addictive. This can be dangerous because the more often you tan, the more damage you do to your skin.

There are other ways to look tan, but they are not all safe:

• Tanning pills have a color additive that turns your skin orange after you take them. But they can be dangerous and are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Sunless tanners have no known risk for skin cancer, but you do have to be careful. Most spray tans, lotions, and gels use DHA, a color additive that makes your skin look tan. DHA is considered safe for use on the outside of your body by the FDA. You need to make sure it doesn't get into your nose, eyes, or mouth. If you use a spray tan, be careful not to breathe in the spray. Also, remember that these "tans" do not protect you from UV rays when you go outside.

Adrenal Gland Disorders

What are adrenal glands?

Your adrenal glands are two small organs that sit on top of each kidney. The adrenal glands make different types of hormones you need to stay alive and healthy. Hormones are chemicals that travel in your bloodstream and control how different parts of your body work.

The adrenal glands make the hormones cortisol, aldosterone, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. They also make hormones that your body uses to make sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone). All of these hormones do many important jobs, including:

• Turning food into energy and managing blood sugar levels
• Balancing salt and water
• Keeping blood pressure normal
• Responding to illness and stress (your "fight or flight" response)
• Timing when and how fast a child develops sexually
• Supporting pregnancy

When you have an adrenal gland disorder, your body makes too much or too little of one or more hormones. The symptoms depend on the type of problem you have and how much it affects the hormone levels in your body.

There are many types of adrenal gland disorders, including:

• Addison's Disease - a condition in which the adrenal glands don't make enough cortisol
• Cushing's Syndrome - a condition caused by too much cortisol in the body, often from taking steroid medicines for a long time
• Aldosterone-producing adenoma - a benign tumor (not cancer) that makes too much aldosterone and may cause serious high blood pressure
• Hereditary paraganglioma-pheochromocytoma - an inherited condition causing different types of tumors that make adrenaline and other hormones. Some tumors may become cancerous.
• Adrenal gland cancer - cancerous tumors, including adrenocortical carcinoma and neuroblastoma
• Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) - a group of inherited disorders in which the adrenal glands don't make enough cortisol. The most common type is 21-hydroxylase deficiency (also called CAH1). In the United States, newborn babies get a blood test to see if they have CAH. People born with CAH may not have symptoms until childhood or later in life.

The cause of adrenal gland disorders depends on the type of disorder you have. Causes can include:

• Medicines such as steroids
• A problem in another gland, such as the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland releases hormones that affect how the adrenal glands work.
• Changes in genes (mutations). These changes can cause the adrenal glands to make too much or too little of one or more hormones.
• Infections

In many cases the cause of the problem isn't clear.

Health care providers use different tests to check for adrenal disorders depending on your symptoms and health history. For example, you may have tests of your blood, urine (pee), or saliva (spit). These tests check your hormone levels. Your provider may order x-rays, CT scans, or MRI scans to look for tumors.

Different types of adrenal gland disorders have different treatments. They include medicines and surgery. Radiation therapy is sometimes a treatment for tumors. There are treatments to cure certain adrenal gland disorders. For other disorders, treatments can manage your symptoms.

NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Alcohol

Many Americans drink alcohol at least occasionally. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans say that adults of legal drinking age should either not drink or drink in moderation. Drinking less is better for your health than drinking more. Also, there are some people who should not drink at all.

If you are going to drink, it's important to know how alcohol affects you and how much is too much.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. This means that it is a drug that slows down brain activity. It can change your mood, behavior, and self-control. It can cause problems with memory and thinking clearly. Alcohol can also affect your coordination and physical control.

Alcohol also has effects on the other organs in your body. For example, it can raise your blood pressure and heart rate. If you drink too much at once, it could make you throw up.

Alcohol's effects vary from person to person, depending on a variety of factors, including:

• How much you drink
• How often you drink
• Your age
• Your sex
• Your genetics
• Your overall health
• Whether or not you have a family history of alcohol problems

• For most women, moderate drinking is no more than 1 standard drink a day
• For most men, moderate drinking is no more than 2 standard drinks a day

Even though moderate drinking may be safe for many people, there are still risks. Moderate drinking can raise the risk of death from certain cancers and heart diseases.

In the United States, a standard drink is one that contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is found in:

• 12 ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol content)
• 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol content)
• 1.5 ounces or a "shot" of distilled spirits or liquor (40% alcohol content)

Some people should not drink alcohol at all, including those who:

• Are in recovery from an alcohol use disorder (AUD)
• Are unable to control the amount they drink
• Are under age 21
• Are pregnant or trying to become pregnant
• Are taking medicines that can interact with alcohol
• Have medical conditions that can get worse if you drink alcohol
• Are planning on driving
• Will be operating machinery or doing activities that require skill, coordination, and alertness

If you have questions about whether it is safe for you to drink, talk with your health care provider.

Excessive drinking includes binge drinking and heavy alcohol use:

• Binge drinking is drinking so much at once that your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level is 0.08% or more:
  • For men, this usually happens after having 5 or more drinks within a few hours.
  • For women, it is usually after about 4 or more drinks within a few hours.
• Heavy alcohol use means:
  • For men, having more than 5 drinks on any day or more than 15 drinks per week.
  • For women, having more than 4 drinks on any day or more than 8 drinks per week.

Binge drinking raises your risk of injuries, car crashes, and alcohol overdose. It also puts you at risk of becoming violent or being the victim of violence.

Heavy alcohol use over a long period of time may cause health problems such as:

• Alcohol use disorder (AUD)
• Liver diseases, including cirrhosis and alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD)
• Heart diseases
• Increased risk of certain cancers
• Increased risk of injuries

Heavy alcohol use can also cause problems at home, at work, and with friends. But treatment can help.

NIH: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism