April is Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Month: what you need to know

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – April is Head and Cancer Awareness Month, and the Georgia Cancer Center held free screenings Friday.

It’s a process that takes a few minutes. But makes all the difference.

“If you have a cancer that’s super early, it’s gonna be a little bit easier to treat– maybe less modalities of treatment. So, sometimes it can be just like a little incision, or it can be something that saves an organ– like your throat,” Georgia Cancer Center Head and Neck Cancer Nurse Practitioner Heather Bentley said.

This month aims to bring more awareness to cancers in the head and neck regions like the throat, mouth and larynx. 

“I always tell people, any kind of lesion in the mouth, ulcer– may be painful, maybe not– any kind of sore that you see in the mouth that hasn’t healed within a couple of weeks, maybe like two weeks, probably need to have it evaluated…” Bentley said.

She also says there are visual signs you can look out for, like inflamed mouth sores and more.

“So, neck masses of any kind of persistence, sores in the mouth that are persisting, persistent sore throat, persistent trouble swallowing, persistent and progressive hoarseness– that’s the thing, the key is persistence. Things that are not bad are gonna get better or intermittent or get better within a week or so…”

If you missed the screenings this year, you could visit.