Cases of skin cancer more than triple
Pastor Dale Morgan
Cases of skin cancer more than triple*
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 08/07/2007
Deadly cases of skin cancer are rising dramatically across Britain as
people spend more time outdoors, experts have revealed.
The incidence of malignant melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin
cancer, has soared by almost 20 per cent in two years in the warmest
parts of the country.
Dr Sandeep Cliff, a consultant dermatologist, said that Britain's
culture had not adjusted to cope with increasingly hot summers. The
doctor from East Surrey Hospital, in Redhill, said: "We get one hot day
and everyone gets half-naked. In other countries which are used to the
sun, they cover up and avoid the mid-day sun."
Government figures show malignant melanoma is the UK's fastest growing
cancer, with rates tripling in the three decades to 2003, the latest
year for which national statistics are held.
But a conference of the British Association of Dermatology (BAD) will
learn this week that since 2003 the rise in skin cancer cases has been
even higher. The latest research shows that in Cornwall there has been
an increase of 18 per cent in the number of cases between 2003 and 2005.
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Researchers say the West Country is particularly vulnerable to skin
cancer as its naturally fair-skinned population struggles to cope with
increasingly hot summers.
But experts are warning that the rise is likely to be echoed in other
parts of the UK as more Britons take to al fresco living as soon as the
sun shines.
Already, there are more deaths from malignant melanoma in Britain, with
1,800 fatalities and thousands more diagnoses every year, than in
Australia, where there are about 1,000 deaths annually.
Researcher Alastair Thomson, a consultant oncologist at the Royal
Cornwall Hospital, in Truro, said: "People have changed their
lifestyles. Partly this is about people getting short bursts of sun
exposure when they go abroad, but it's also about an increasingly
outdoor way of living, with people not protecting themselves against the
risks."
Dr Cliff, a BAD member, said the message to cover up in the sun was not
getting through, with "few people realising just how deadly malignant
melanoma is".
He added: "This is an aggressive form of cancer. I saw a patient
recently with a reddened mole, and three weeks later he was dead."
Last November, Grace Impey, 50, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma.
After its recurrence following treatment, Mrs Impey, who teaches special
needs children, has been told she has a one in five chance of survival.
Mrs Impey, who lives in Falmouth, said a mole on her calf changed
drastically in two months, and was encrusted by the time it was seen by
surgeons. Having undergone treatment, she will undergo scans to see if a
stomach tumour has reduced.
She said: "I am very fair-skinned, but I am not one to sunbathe so I
never really worried. I love walking my dog and being out on the cliff
paths, so I would go out in shorts and not think about covering up."
Rebecca Smart, manager of Cancer Research UK's "Sunsmart" campaign, said
she expected the trends in Cornwall to be echoed nationally. She said:
"A lot of this is about people spending time outdoors. On top of that we
have got increasing numbers of people using tanning facilities."
Under EC guidance, sunscreen manufacturers have been asked to simplify
the way sun creams are labelled, designating them as low, medium, high
or very high protection. Miss Smart said the charity welcomed the
guidance but warned that the new labels, which will be introduced in
next year's stocks, were not mandatory.