Skin cancer risks increasing

Skin cancer diagnosis is steadily increasing across most of the country, but Northland, Bay of Plenty and Wanganui residents seem to be at greatest risk.

In the past decade the deadly disease has grown 7 per cent a year, according to Health Information Service data.

Nearly 50,000 people a year are diagnosed with the disease, with deaths averaging about 300.

On the eve of SunSmart Week, MoleMap executives have provided a geographical breakdown of skin cancer growth rates, which reveal a wide variance between regions.

The disease is rising at an annual rate of between 15 and 20 per cent in Northland, the Bay of Plenty and Wanganui, but the chances of diagnosis in Wairarapa and Otago are falling by between 1 and 2 per cent.

The disease hits people over 50 hardest. In the Bay of Plenty, 77 per cent of skin cancer cases are in people who were born before 1955.

MoleMap chief executive Adrian Bowling said a region's high incidence of skin cancer was not necessarily linked to a lack of awareness.

"A community which is highly aware of melanoma or has better access to screening services may be more likely to report higher numbers just by actively managing the problem," he said. "The information indicates some population segments are not as active at preventing melanoma and may have become complacent or simply unaware of the ferocity and progressive nature of this deadly cancer."

There are three types of skin cancer. Melanoma is the most invasive. Basal and squamous typically lie closer to the skin's surface.

Northcote GP Chris Boberg said skin cancer could act in a particularly vicious way. Once advanced, surgery could not help, nor could radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

"It's like a horse bolting through a gate - once it's gone, it's gone." Early detection was crucial, he said.

Wendy Billingsley of the Cancer Society said between 1600 and 1800 new cases of melanoma occurred a year. People needed to change their traditional blase attitudes towards lying in the sun. The society's biggest challenge was to stamp out a belief that a tan was attractive.

Ms Billingsley criticised the attitudes of 1980s babyboomers, who were now paying the price for "sun-tanning themselves like crazy".

She also spoke out harshly against the sunbed industry.

"Sunbeds are very, very dicey ... If you go outside you have a particular balance of UV-A and UV-B. B burns, and A ages. Sunbeds upset the balance - they increase the age and decrease the burn."

Deadly detail

* New Zealand has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

* Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer.

* Nearly 50,000 new skin cancers occur every year, including up to 1800 cases of melanoma.

* About 300 people die every year from skin cancer.

* The face and neck are the most common places for cancers.

(source: www.sunsmart.co.nz)