AS CYPRUS enters the summer season, doctors are warning the public of the dangers of skin cancer caused by excessive exposure to the sun.
Many of us will be going to the beach today, and almost every weekend for the next few months. Young children will run around in bathing costumes as the sun’s rays reach their peak around midday. Some of us may burn, but apart from the irritation as we try to dry our back coming out of the shower, will we pause to wonder about the longer-term damage we may be causing?
Dermatologists say we should, with cases of skin cancer increasing around the world.
There are several different types of cancer referred to under the general label of skin cancer, the most dangerous of which is malignant melanoma.
It is an increasingly common condition, in part attributed to increased exposure to ultraviolet radiation, against which no level of sunscreens offers any decisive protection. The increased exposure is mainly due to the recent popularity of sunbathing, but in part also due to ozone depletion and the consequently increased levels of ultraviolet radiation.
Minor surface skin cancers are readily treatable by simple surgery, but if the cancer is allowed to grow then it will penetrate through the layers of skin and affect the lymphatic system. It may also metastasize and spread to other parts of the body.
According to The Skin Cancer Foundation, the only international organisation concerned exclusively with the world’s most common malignancy, cancer of the skin, “the incidence and mortality of skin cancer have increased exponentially during the past several decades, and every year the figure mounts.”
The mission of the non-profit Foundation is “to control the epidemic and to prevent skin cancers through public education campaigns about the need for sun protection all year round, from birth to old age. Public attitudes towards tanning and sun exposure must also be changed.”
More than a million people will be diagnosed with skin cancer around the world this year, while more than half of all new cancers diagnosed are skin cancers. One person dies every hour from skin cancer, primarily melanoma.
The incidence of melanoma is increasing rapidly in women under the age of 40. It is now the most common cancer in young women aged 25-29 and second only to breast cancer in women aged 30-34. Melanoma kills more young women than any other cancer.
More than 90 per cent of all skin cancers are caused by sun exposure, yet fewer than 33 per cent of adults, adolescents, and children routinely use sun protection.
The effects of skin aging caused by the sun can be seen as early as in one’s twenties.
While melanoma is uncommon in African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians, it is most deadly for these populations.
The Foundation says that, “coupled with a yearly skin examination by a doctor, self-examination of your skin once a month is the best way to detect the early warning signs of the three main types of skin cancer. Look for a new growth or any skin change.”
In Cyprus, 500 skin cancers are reported every year, of which 120 are melanomas.
Constantinos Demetriou, President of the Cyprus Society of Dermatology and Venereology (CSDV), said skin cancer “can be genetic but the main cause is from over-exposure to the sun, which is how malignant melanomas develop. Even chronic irritation of the skin, such as glasses rubbing on the nose, can trigger it.”
He said symptoms could include “non-healing ulcers on the skin, a sudden appearance of nodules, bleeding and itching of the skin and expanding black spots which change colour.”
Treatments include conventional surgery, cryo-surgery, radiation, laser and cauterisation techniques.
Demetriou advised children, people with fair skin and elderly people, who already have sun damaged-skin, to use a sun protection factor of at least 15 and to make sure it contains a good UVA screen. Sunbathing between 11am and 3pm should also be avoided.
He went on to say that “Cyprus is inhabited by people who have a natural, built-in SPF of eight due to their genetic make-up, so it’s not a major problem on the island.”
But he warned against complacency, and said that, “due to the island’s relative proximity to the equator, the sun is very powerful and tourists, especially from northern countries, should be careful.”
The CSDV was founded in 1983 by a group of dermatologists who met in a Nicosia café and decided that it was time to group together and promote their objectives. The main aims and goals of the society are to promote dermatology and venereology as a science, encourage education and promote personal and professional relations among themselves and other specialists. They also develop public awareness programmes.
The CSDV also acts in co-operation with the Ministry of Health.
Demetriou, who has 25 years of experience in the field, said people should always be on the lookout for warning signs.
“A few years ago I was visiting a private clinic when I encountered a 35-year-old-man who was dying of melanoma. To my surprise, he was one of my regular patients who had never showed me the melanoma which ended up killing him.”
The CSDV carries out a ‘melanoma day’ once a year, where patients are examined free of charge for signs of skin cancer. “This year, it took place on May 30 and I personally diagnosed four cases which otherwise may have been missed. We advertise melanoma day in local newspapers and on television.”
According to the American Cancer Society, malignant melanoma has risen by 800 per cent around the world since 1940.
HOW MUCH CARE DO YOU TAKE?
James Black, 28-year-old postman from Sunthorpe, on a two-week holiday to Ayia Napa
“Of course I think about skin cancer when I am sunbathing. I always wear a hat and because I’m so pale, I use SPF 20 on my shoulders and back and a total sunblock on my nose.”
Danish tourist Tina Hansen
“I am fully aware of the dangers of skin cancer and always use an SPF eight lotion. I know that you shouldn’t be out in the sun between 12 and 4pm but I do it anyway to get a quicker tan because I hate sunbathing and get bored easily. Last year and the year before, when I was in Cyprus, I got really burnt when I fell asleep in the sun, so I should know better.”
George Panayiotou, 22 from Larnaca
“I spend every weekend on the beach and don’t think about catching skin cancer at all. I’m naturally tanned anyway so I don’t really need to worry about it as it’s only a problem for fair skinned people. In fact, I use baby oil to get a better tan.”
Nineteen-year-old Lisa Hayden on holiday in Limassol from Liverpool
“I’ve come over with a couple of my girlfriends but we all made sure that we were already tanned by going on sunbeds back in the UK. I’ll worry about skin cancer when I’m older.”
