BIODERMA Skin Health Circuit takes the anxiety out of a vital check-up - IOL

Participants warm up ahead of the 5km fun run as part of the BIODERMA Skin Health Circuit event at Sandton Gate, Johannesburg, earlier this month.

The third annual BIODERMA Skin Health Circuit has wrapped up with the final event taking place in Durban. The event carried the tagline "Catch the rays, not the risk" highlighting the importance of protecting oneself from the sun's harmful rays, even as we enjoy sunnier days. 

The event coupled a 5km community fun run, with free skin screening opportunities.

I took part in the Cape Town event, which saw participants run a 5km flat course in and around Canal Walk shopping centre, organised by Sunday Shuffle. There were similar events at Sandton Gate in Johannesburg and La Lucia Mall in Durban. The Sunday Shuffle crew was great, creating a positive and energising vibe with a quick warm-up before the fun run started.

The beauty of running in and around shopping centres is the sense of security – participants could run with their phones out, capturing videos and snapping pics, and as one of the instructors mentioned: "Your Strava won't see how flat the course is." Running on tiled and smoothly paved surfaces in the hours before the mall's stores opened was definitely a pleasure, running without worry that a crack in the pavement or uneven surfaces could trip you up.

The Sunday Shuffle team brought a healthy, fun, energetic vibe to the event, leading the pre-run warm-up and encouraging participants along the route.

The events served an important health purpose as well; South Africa has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, understandable given its sunny skies, with some 20,000 cases and 700 deaths registered every year. 

Which is why early screening and detection is so important. 

Participants wait their turn for their free, private skin screening.

BIODERMA hosted free screenings as part of the event, and participants didn't have to run the 5km in order to qualify; there was a separate portal to book screenings at the event and a number of shoppers took up the opportunity.

In total, 306 people were screened, with the highest number of participants recorded in Cape Town. Forty-eight suspicious lesions were detected, and roughly one in six people screened (15.7%) were flagged for further evaluation. 

Johannesburg had the highest flag rate at 18.9%, followed by Durban at 16.2% and Cape Town with 12.7%.

This highlights the importance of early detection and the relevance of events and initiatives like this is reducing risk.

Participants in the Johannesburg event with their BIODERMA goodie bags try out some of the BIODERMA products.

Health checks can often seem daunting; but coupled with a fun run, camaraderie and a friendly, pleasant screening process, getting checked out for potential skin cancer risk became a far less scary prospect. 

The BIODERMA and Sunday Shuffle teams helped brighten the mood and I'm looking forward to booking my spot in next year's event.

Now if only my legs felt the same way after that 5km run...

* Lance Witten is the Editor of IOL.