At the onset of the summer and warmer weather, the health authorities draw our attention to the high risk of melanoma, the most prevalent and deadly skin cancer associated with exposure to the sun's rays.
This year marks the ninth Euro melanoma campaign and Dermatology and Venerology Department chairman Lawrence Scerri says that, although people have been made aware of the harmful effects of sun exposure, precautions need to be taken more seriously.
Melanoma is one of the most preventable cancers, with prevention and early detection being the answer. Yet, melanoma is fatal in some 20 per cent of cases. If not nipped in the bud, it spreads, and very rapidly and aggressively, with the thicker lesions being the more invasive.
A recent study examined the changing incidence of, and survival from, invasive malignant melanoma in Malta by analysing the data from the 211 cases that were registered at the Malta National Cancer Registry between 1993 and 2002.
Although the incidence of melanoma has increased over the past years, the good news is that the survival rate has also gone up - from 74 per cent between 1993 and 1997 to 92 per cent in the following five years.
It is intriguing to note that male incidence more than doubled, from 3.7 per 100,000 population per year in the first five-year period to eight in the second five-year period, while for females it only rose from 5.1 to 5.9. From a public health approach, this discrepancy deserves close scrutiny to examine what factors place males more at risk.
Dr Scerri pointed out that melanoma develops decades after sun damage has taken place. Episodes of sunburn, especially in childhood, and genetic factors such as fair and freckly skin, numerous moles and a family history of melanoma pushes up the risks of developing skin cancer. There is no such thing as a healthy sun tan. Tanned skin is damaged skin. Injudicious sun exposure has been incontrovertibly linked to skin cancer and to skin aging and there is definitely nothing attractive about this.
Various campaigns market the slogan Slip, Slop, Slap. This means that we have to slip on protective clothing, slop on effective sun screen generously at least at two-hourly intervals and slap on a hat. One should also take special care to protect the lips, wear the correct sunglasses and seek the shade.
Sunscreen never offers 100 per cent protection and should not be used to irresponsibly increase the time spent in the sun. Above all, the medical authorities strongly advise us to avoid the peak hours of sunshine between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. They also deplore the fact that schools fail to accept this reality and persist in keeping on organising sports days in the hottest time of the school year when ultra-violet radiation is at its peak.
Undoubtedly, the thinning ozone layer has contributed to the increasing damaging effect of the sun's rays so the risk factor is much higher than before, and rising. This implies that educational campaigns have to be carried out more aggressively so that the public is made to realise what is at stake.
Meanwhile, the authorities have to insist that public events follow certain rules and adopt certain precautions. They should also make a point of emphasising these dangers to those with occupations such as farming and, particularly, the construction industry, whose work exposes them to long hours in the sun.
Skin cancer is largely avoidable and, with the damaging impact of UV rays on the increase, public health measures of awareness and enforcement must be stepped up.