Awareness 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.
Moles that change shape or colour can indicate the presence of a malignant melanoma which is why it’s important to keep an eye on moles. Melanoma are often pigmented and appear as moles. Malignant melanoma is the most dangerous form of the disease and can spread to other organs in the body. 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 one of the most common cancers in people aged 20 - 35, affects indoors workers more than outdoor workers and is more common in women than men. Too much sunburn as a child increases the risk of skin cancer in later life, so children should be protected from the sun. Non-melanoma skin cancer affects men more than women and is more common in those who spend a lot of time outdoors.
Dark skinned people rarely get skin cancer, although they should be careful as well. The people most at risk of skin cancer are those with fair skin, freckles, who burn red in the sun and who spend too much time in the sun without protection. Some inherited skin diseases make those people much more likely to get 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.
UVB causes sun burn and skin cancer whilst UVB is known to just cause skin cancer without the effects of sunburn. This initially lead to creams designed to block out UVB but nowadays many creams block out a lot of UVA as well.
The real issue though is that sun creams make people think that they can stay out in the sun for extended periods of time, thereby increasing their risk of skin cancer regardless of the protection.
