In the USA, UK, Australia and many other countries in the world, the most common of all human cancers is skin cancer. And according to most authorities including the American Cancer Society, the majority of these skin cancers are related to exposure to the sun.
There are three different types of skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell cancer (SCC) and melanoma.
All of the three different types of skin cancer are malignant, but the first two categories are unlikely to spread to other parts of the body. And in all three cases, early diagnosis of the condition generally leads to a complete cure, meaning that being aware of these different cancers is essential.
Skin cancer is the fastest growing form of the condition, with in excess of 1 million new cases diagnosed every year in the USA and hundreds of thousands in the UK and Australia. In fact, bizarre as it may seem, skin cancer is now growing faster in the UK (with a climate that no-one who has ever been there could ever really describe as being ‘sunny’ without
being extremely generous) than it is in Australia, perhaps because the extreme levels of sunshine in Australia have already brought home the dangers of overexposure to most long-term residents.
Of the three forms of skin cancer, BCC and SCC are by far more common than melanoma, which is a very good thing because these are considerably less dangerous forms of skin cancer.
Nevertheless, according to the American Cancer Society statistics, there will be nearly 69,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in the USA in 2009, and melanoma will be responsible for perhaps 8650 of the 11,590 anticipated deaths from skin cancer in the year.
The picture in other countries where the growth of skin cancer is alarming is pretty much the same. Around 75% of all skin cancer deaths are caused by melanoma, a particularly aggressive form of cancer that attacks other organs in the body if it is not dealt with extremely quickly.
And as hundreds of websites attest, it is now pretty well indisputable that the main cause of skin cancer is exposure to ultraviolet light and the main source of ultraviolet light to which we are likely to be exposed is the sun or artificial versions of it when we ‘enjoy’ a tanning booth or a sunbed session.
You have already seen the ACS evidence (i.e. the evidence from an internationally recognized cancer authority) but the information emanating from the UK Cancer Research Organisation and the Australian Department of Health and Ageing all tells very much the same story.
Skin cancer is primarily caused by overexposure to ultraviolet light from the sun and therefore, if you protect yourself from the sun, your chances of contracting deadly melanoma or any other form of skin cancer are significantly reduced.
The light of the sun contains three different types of ultraviolet light, being UVA, UVB and UVC. All three forms of ultraviolet light are in effect a form of radiation, exactly the same kind of thing that you would expect to be subjected to if for example you needed to have a part of your body x-rayed.
When the dangers of ultraviolet light first began to become apparent to scientists and medical professionals, it was originally suggested that UVB was the danger, but that has since been modified to include UVA as well.
There is now evidence to suggest that both of these forms of ultraviolet light damage the DNA of the body, and it is DNA that controls the healthy growth of cells, including those of the skin. Consequently, because this basic building block of a healthy body is out of shape, it helps to encourage the uncontrolled, disorderly cell growth that we call cancer.
There are many factors that dictate whether you more susceptible to skin cancer than others. If you fall under any of the following categories, it is believed that your skin cancer risk is elevated:
• Those who have fair skin that is easily burned and prone to freckles or other common skin markings.
• People who have suffered at least one case of severe sunburn earlier in life.
• Those who have fair hair and/or blue or green eyes.
• People with naturally depleted skin pigmentation caused by other medical conditions such as albinism.
• Those who have many moles on their skin, especially unusually shaped or colored moles, or large ones that they have had from birth.
• People who have suffered skin cancer before, or have family members who have suffered in the past.
It is important to note that these causative factors can work in combination. If for example you are a fair skinned, red haired, blue-eyed individual with several unusual moles who suffered really bad sunburn a couple of times as a youngster (which with this physical make up is extremely likely), the chances of continued or repeated exposure to the sun causing cancer are a great deal higher.
This highlights one of the main reasons why it is so important to know how to prevent sunburn and how to treat it if it unfortunately happens. Anything that increases your melanoma risk levels is something to be taken extremely seriously.
Managing the risk of sunburn before the event is by far and away the best way of treating this risk with the respect that it so obviously deserves.
And remember that sunbeds and tanning booths are in no way, shape or form a safe alternative to exposure to natural sunlight.
In fact, the ultraviolet radiation issuing from sunbeds is considerably higher than that of the sun, which is one of the reasons why more health conscious countries like Germany are now passing laws to ban youngsters from using sunbeds.
Given that the statistics in Germany suggest that over 4 million youngsters in the country regularly subject themselves to a sunbed session, there are grounds for thinking that the law banning them from doing so could not come a moment too soon.
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