A free screening clinic for skin cancers will be held Saturday, May 7, at the Chinatown Public Health Center, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is organized by the Center and the Board of Supervisors with the UCSF dermatology department, which is sending a team of physicians and residents to do the exams.

The doctors will be looking for different kinds of melanomas, including those that Asians are more susceptible to, said Dr. Siegrid Yu, an assistant professor in the UCSF dermatology department.

“There are certain skin cancers that Asians are susceptible to that are not sun related. They are from a genetic mutation,” she said. That type, called acral lentiginous melanoma, occurs on the soles of the feet or the palms of the hands—skin areas that are typically protected from sun exposure. It is also a cancer that has a worse prognosis and that is why early detection is important, she said.

“For screening for melanomas, we have an acronym: ABCDE, which means ‘A’ for a lesion that is asymmetrical; ‘B’ for irregular border; ‘C’ for color variation; ‘D’ for diameter; and ‘E’ for evolution or change,” Yu said, explaining how doctors evaluate a patient’s skin.

When doctors find a potential skin problem, the patients will be referred for follow up care, Y said.

The screenings are being offered because May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Skin cancers are 50 percent of all diagnosed cancers and will affect about 20 percent of Americans. Most skin cancers can be prevented by limiting sun exposure and by early detection and treatment.