Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is an increasing problem for all of us. Hampshire now has one of the highest rates for skin cancer in Europe. This has mainly resulted from changing lifestyles which have increased our exposure to the sun.

The majority of skin cancers although destructive to local tissue do not spread and threaten life. However around 1 in 80 of us will die from skin cancers that unfortunately spread. Most of these are from malignant melanoma, a form of mole cancer and squamous cell carcinoma.

What causes skin cancer?

The following are significant risk factors:

	A fair skin
	Outdoor work or lifestyle
	Tanning
	Severe sunburn as a child – particularly for mole cancer or melanoma

The good news!

Because it is visible skin cancer can be detected at an early stage. This if followed by rapid treatment increases the chances of cure. This is particularly important for melanoma. Assessment of moles that are changing by a trained dermatologist is the gold standard in detecting melanoma. Self-monitoring of moles in a patient with risk factors for skin cancer is a sensible health measure.