Being Aware of Skin Cancer
Each year in the UK, there are more than 65,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer and more than 8,000 new cases of malignant melanoma. Skin cancer is becoming more widespread: the number of cases has doubled in the past 20 years. In fact, there are more skin cancer deaths in the UK than in Australia, even though Australia has more cases of the disease.
Malignant melanoma is the most serious form of the disease since it can spread to other organs in the body. Melanoma is often pigmented (coloured) and can look like moles, which is why it’s important to seek advice if a mole changes shape and/or colouring. There are 3 types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma , and malignant melanoma.
About 1,800 people die from skin cancer annually. There are several treatment options available, including surgical removal, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or biological therapy, depending on the type of skin cancer. Skin cancer is much easier to treat if found early. However, if it is found late it is usually uncurable.
Malignant melanoma is more common in women than men, is one of the most common cancers in people aged 20 to 35 and affects people who work indoors more than those who work outside. Non-melanoma skin cancer affects men more than women, as well as older people, particularly those who have spent much time working outdoors. Too much sun exposure and getting sunburnt in childhood and the teenage years can lead to skin cancer in later life, so children in particular must be protected.
Those most at risk of skin cancer are people with light or fair skin, freckles, who burn lobster red in the sun, already have moles and/or spend too long in the sun without protection. Brown- or black-skinned people rarely get skin cancer, but everyone should be careful. There are some rare, inherited skin diseases that make people highly sensitive to sunlight and much more likely to get any type of skin cancer.
As it’s not always possible to differentiate between skin cancers and benign skin conditions by examination alone, you may need to have a biopsy. If it’s confirmed as cancer, it’ll be removed by surgery or radiotherapy, depending on its size and type.
Both UVA and UVB can cause skin cancer. In the old days sun creams only blocked out UVB, but nowadays many suncreams block out a lot of UVA as well as UVB.
However, the main concern is that, because sun creams prevent burning, they make people think they can spend much longer in the sun, which will definitely increase their risk of getting skin cancer.
