Tanning and skin cancer facts

There is a popular belief that suntanned skin is healthy and attractive. Many people spend more time in the sun than is good for their skin trying to achieve a fashionable tan.
A considerable percentage of the white skinned population admits to tanning at least once a year either in the sun or in tanning beds.
In a magazine survey, two thirds of teens said they "look better with a tan and feel healthier, more sophisticated," and half said they looked "more athletic".
Tanned skin is thought to be associated with swimming pools, backyard barbecues, dinner parties, and exotic vacations. In this context, tanned skin took on a feature of attractiveness as a signal of being well-traveled, cultured, and supposed evidence of leisure wealth. It also became a signal of health and strength as the bodybuilding and fitness industries increasingly promoted tanning to highlight muscle tone and definition.
Suntan is caused by an increased release of the pigment melanin into the skin's cells after exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
There is convincing evidence from many studies that frequent exposure to any form of UV radiation (solar or artificial) increases the risk for the development of skin cancer.
Preventive measures include avoiding sun exposure between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m, wearing a hat and anti-UV sunglasses which can provide almost 100% protection against ultraviolet radiation entering the eyes and applying a sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays.

Epidemiology of Skin Cancer

Skin cancer ---> Skin cancer Statistics

Skin Cancers are the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors in the United States, with an incidence of approximately 1.4 million new cases annually. One in five Americans born in 2004 will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. More than half of all cancers diagnosed in the United States are skin cancers. The most common skin cancer types are basal and squamous cell carcinoma (BCC and SCC). Melanoma accounts for 4% of skin cancer diagnoses but accounts for 75% of skin cancer deaths, with 7,910 deaths due to melanoma in 2004, or about one every hour. Approximately 95,880 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States in 2004: 40,780 in situ and 55,100 invasive (29,900 men and 25,200 women). This represents a 4% increase in new cases of melanoma from 2003. The incidence of melanoma has more than tripled among Caucasians between 1980 and 2003. Invasive melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men, seventh most common cancer in women, and the most common form of cancer of any type in women between 25 and 29 years of age. The early diagnosis and surgical treatment of these skin cancers can be curative.

Skin cancer facts: Malignant Melanoma

Skin cancer ---> Melanoma skin cancer

Skin Cancers are the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumors in the United States, with an incidence of approximately 1.4 million new cases annually. Basal cell and squamous cell skin carcinoma account for 96% of new non melanoma skin cancers. Malignant Melanoma accounts for 4% of skin cancers.

Risk factors for development of skin melanoma include ultraviolet light (UVL) exposure, fair complexion/inability to tan, blue or green eyes, blonde or red hair, freckling, history of actinic keratosis or non melanoma skin cancer, history of blistering or peeling sunburns, immunosuppression, personal or family history of melanoma, CDKN2A/p16/MC1R mutation, xeroderma pigmentosa, atypical (dysplastic) nevus, more than 100 normal nevi, and giant congenital melanocytic nevus.

The ABCD rule is used to assess skin lesions for melanoma risk: A is for asymmetry; B is border irregularity; C is color, and D is diameter greater than 6 mm.

Melanoma prognosis is inverse correlated to tumor thickness; ulceration and increased mitotic rate are independent survival risk factors; nodal tumor burden (uninvoled versus microscopic versus macroscopic disease) has an inverse correlation with survival.

Treatment: For melanoma in situ, excision margins of 0.5 to 1 cm are indicated; for invasive melanoma, wide excision of the primary tumor with margins generally ranging from 1 to 2 cm is indicated for local control.

Clinically involved lymph nodes should be resected; patients with primary melanomas of 1 mm thickness or greater and clinically negative nodes should be considered for sentinal lymph node biopsy.