Tag Archives: malignant melanoma

Sunburn dangers

Leave a reply

Most of us remember to take sun cream with us on holiday but old bottles, irregular application and simply forgetting mean skin cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the UK.

It takes just the tiniest hint of the sun’s rays to convince us to shed our layers and prostrate ourselves on pieces of grass the land over.

But experts have warned that more than half of Brits are at risk of skin cancer-causing sunburn this year.

Not wearing sunscreen, using old bottles that are out of date and forgetting to reapply are all reasons we might burn this year. And by the end of the summer 1250 people in the UK will have died from skin cancer, so it’s time we started putting more effort into sun protection.

After the soggy washout of last summer, followed by dreary, even-wetter months during the winter AND the non-existent spring it’s no wonder we can’t get our heads around sun protection in the UK.

But during spring and summer we’re closer to the sun and even when there’s ample cloud cover, UV rays can still cause our skin damage and aging. (In fact, on your face, skincare experts recommend wearing SPF 30 all year round.)

Skin cancer

Skin cancer

Dr Dawn Harper, who supports the campaign,said: “As the sun comes out everyone is keen to enjoy the fun that comes with it. However, Brits need to take sun protection seriously.

“Malignant melanoma is the fastest rising common cancer in the UK and is particularly high in younger people.


It’s even more vital for children and young adults to protect themselves against sun damage.
“Shockingly, allowing your child to play in the sun unprotected is a much higher risk than allowing them to smoke a cigarette – just ten minutes in strong sun can be all it takes for the sun’s UVB rays to burn the skin. Just one episode of sun burn can trigger melanoma,” Dawn added.

“Regular use of sunscreen in the first 18 years of life can reduce the lifetime risk of non-melanoma skin cancers by 80 per cent. Sunburn in childhood is believed to be a primary cause of melanoma, so we are asking Brits to stay safe and slap on a capful.”

Skin cancer dangers

Leave a reply

Skin cancer is a far greater threat to the nation’s health than was previously thought, a new study has revealed.

The number of cases of the most common type of skin cancer is approximately double the level shown by Whitehall figures.

It is nearly as common as all other cancers put together.

There are now believed to be more than 200,000 cases of basal cell carcinomas, or BCCs, a year.

Cases of this form of cancer, which is treatable by surgery, have risen by 80 per cent in a decade.

The cost of treating each case is around £1,000 and although the success rate for surgery is high, the cost to the NHS is likely to be more than £200million a year.

Dr Bav Shergill, a dermatologist at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said he was seeing more cases of skin cancer – and the number of patients are ‘projected to keep on increasing’.

He added: ‘It is thought that this is due to a number of factors, including people living longer, and greater exposure to the sun through outdoor hobbies, travel and package holidays, and so on.’

The research was carried out by doctors from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Eastern Cancer Registration Centre in Cambridge.

Their report said: ‘Our study shows that the number of basal cell carcinomas in the UK is approximately twice that indicated by Government statistics.

skin cancer

skin cancer

‘The effects on population health and on costs to the health services of basal cell skin carcinomas should be recognised.

‘Resources to prevent, diagnose and manage the disease should be prioritised to help control BCC, which now appears to be the commonest malignant disease in the UK.’


Problems with accurately identifying cases and difficulties collecting data mean BCC figures are excluded from official national statistics.

‘Unfortunately, this means that the commonest cancer in the UK is often overlooked by politicians, the public and the media,’ added the report.

However, BCC is rarely fatal. Though it accounts for around 75 per cent of all skin cancers, surgery to remove the tumour and surrounding skin is successful in 90 per cent of cases.

BCC develops on the outermost layers of the skin and is linked to an overexposure to ultraviolet light.

The study showed that BCCs occur ‘predominantly on sun-exposed areas of elderly people with lighter skin’.