Melanoma Epidemic in White Females

Today I want to share some startling new skincare news, that I hope you will share with your friends…

Yes, you hear a lot about skin cancer, which is the most common type of cancer. And the most dangerous type of skin cancer is melanoma, which sadly kills one American every 55 minutes. I’m sad to tell you that this month, the alarming news has just been reported that in the last three decades, in the United States, the incidence of melanoma among non-Hispanic, white women, aged 15 to 39, has almost tripled. That means the actual rate of melanoma has increased from 5 cases per one hundred thousand to 14 cases per hundred thousand. The worst part is that this disease is entirely preventable.

This study, beyond of course alerting us to the increasing number of cases of a deadly cancer, also demonstrated with statistical certainty that the cause of the increased incidence of melanoma in this age group was UV radiation.

Moreover, the study showed that the increased UV exposure was from both natural UV from the sun as well as artificial UV from tanning salons.

Of note, this increased incidence of melanoma was correlated directly with the socioeconomic status of the people who developed melanoma. In other words, the increase in cases of melanoma was much greater in females from higher socioeconomic groups. The conclusion was those females could afford to spend more time on vacation in the sun and were more able to afford to go to tanning salons… And they also clearly, weren’t protecting themselves from the sun.

I never tell my patients not to go in the sun, because it’s neither practical nor realistic advice. Instead, I tell them how to protect themselves when they are in the sun, with the proper use of an effective sunscreen and other sun protective behavior.

Fortunately, stopping this epidemic is not rocket science. Just protect yourself from the sun when you’re in it. And as a random act of kindness, since as a member of the DermTV community I know you know how, tell your five best friends how to enjoy themselves in the sun while still protecting themselves from it.

This way you and they won’t become a statistic in the next melanoma study.