112 people seen on Melanoma Monday

No cases of melanoma were uncovered during Melanoma Monday at Boffa Hospital, but three people were diagnosed with other forms of skin cancer, the head of the department of dermatology at Boffa Hospital, Lawrence Scerri, said.

Dr Scerri, who is also vice-president of the Association of Dermatology and Venereology, said when contacted that the awareness campaign had proved to be a success.

Last Monday, Malta, together with the rest of Europe, marked Melanoma Monday as part of the Euro-Melanoma skin cancer campaign.

This is the third consecutive year that Malta has taken part in this campaign and the association had called on those who had suspicious-looking moles or pigmented lesions to go to the melanoma skin cancer screening clinic at Boffa Hospital to have them checked.

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. "In all, 112 people turned up for an appointment, even though many more had phoned," he said.

Dr Scerri said that 54 men and 58 women were seen and of these there was a high ratio of people who were over 50.

So did this mean that the younger generation did not have a care in the world?

"No, I think the younger generation are slowly becoming more aware of the dangers of sunbathing, but since the appointments were made in the morning, they may not have been able to take leave from work," Dr Scerri said.

"I am sure that in the next few weeks some younger people will make an appointment to have their moles checked in their free time."

The patient data gathered on Monday will now be sent to Belgium for statistical evaluation as part of the European pool of data.