Can Painkillers Protect Against Skin Cancer?

Can common painkillers protect you from the harmful rays of the sun? Perhaps.

A new study suggests that aspirin and other painkillers may help save you from two common forms of skin cancer. Scientists in Denmark and the U.S. looked into medical records to see if any medications might decrease the risk of the three types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and the deadly malignant melanoma.

When compared against prescription data, those who had filled more than two prescriptions for NSAIDs had a 15% decreased risk for developing squamous cell carcinoma and a 13% decreased risk for developing malignant melanoma.

The study, recently published in the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, shows that skin cancer prevention may actually be added to the benefits for some of these commonly used medications.

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