Newswise — As a teen and young adult, Elena Schmidt, 49, visited tanning beds several times a week to maintain her dark skin tone. Mrs. Schmidt, who is of Mexican descent, never wore sunscreen or feared skin cancer.

“I grew up not worrying about sunscreen,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “I was naturally tan and I never burned.”

But when this 49-year-old mother of four developed a small bump under her left eye and an irregular patch of skin on her nose that began to bleed, she became concerned and visited Loyola Medicine dermatologist Rebecca Tung, MD.

Dr. Tung diagnosed Mrs. Schmidt with basal cell carcinoma on her face. Dr. Tung performed Mohs surgery to remove the cancer and repair the skin beneath her eye. Loyola plastic surgeon Juan Angelats, MD, performed reconstructive surgery on Mrs. Schmidt’s nose, where the cancer was removed. She is now undergoing laser treatments with Dr. Tung to minimize the scar left by the cancer removal.

“Getting cancer was a wake-up call for me to stop tanning,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “I may never look the same, and tanning definitely wasn’t worth it.”

Mrs. Schmidt also has taken to social media to educate others, and particularly those of color, about the dangers of the sun and indoor tanning.

“People who are naturally dark, don’t believe they can get skin cancer,” Mrs. Schmidt said. “Skin cancer doesn’t discriminate. Everyone is at risk.”

Skin cancer rates among Latinos are skyrocketing in the US, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. New research shows that in the past two decades, melanoma incidence among this group have risen almost 20 percent. Too little use of sun-safety techniques, such as seeking shade, wearing protective clothing and using sunscreen, may have contributed to this rapid rise in skin cancer.