The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- John Furner
The cardinal rule for a day at the beach or a lounge poolside has always been to lather up with SPF to shield yourself from skin cancer-causing UV rays.
The more serious type of skin cancer, melanoma, has long been enemy number one. But a recent study by European dermatologists found that less-fatal varieties of skin cancers are now driving the majority of deaths overall.
Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma accounted for more than three-quarters of all skin cancer cases in 2020 and led to nearly 64,000 deaths. Melanoma, meanwhile, killed about 57,000.
Scientists believe that because NMSCs often go ‘underreported’, the true impact of this disease may be even higher than estimated.
While melanoma typically appear as moles of multi-shades of brown with irregular borders, non-melanoma cancers can be harder to spot, manifesting as waxy skin-colored bumps or patches of red scaly skin that may at first look fairly harmless.
Signs of skin cancer range from innocuous to obvious, but experts warn that treating cases early is key to making sure they do not spread or further develop
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US with an estimated one in five Americans expected to develop skin cancer in their lifetime.
Dr Thierry Passeron, study co-author and dermatologist at Nice University Hospital in France, said: ‘Although NMSC is less likely to be fatal than melanoma skin cancer, its prevalence is strikingly higher.
‘The significantly higher incidence of NMSC has, therefore, led to a more substantial overall impact.’
The study, which used data from the World Health Organisation International Agency for Research on Cancer, found a ‘high incidence’ of skin cancer in fair-skinned and elderly populations from the US, the UK, Germany, France, Australia and Italy.
However, the researchers said that even countries with a high proportion of people with darker features were not immune to the risk of death from skin cancer, as shown by the registered 11,281 deaths in Africa.
In 2020, there were nearly 1.2 million reported cases of NMSC worldwide compared with 324,635 cases of melanoma.
The majority of skin cancer occurrences are non-melanoma, referring to a group of cancers that slowly develop in the upper layers of the skin, with common types including basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
In comparison with melanoma, a type of skin cancer that develops in the melanocytes – cells that produce melanin, NMSC is less likely to spread to other parts of the body and can be treated more easily.
Dr Passeron added: ‘As alarming as these figures are, they may, in fact, be underestimated.
‘NMSC is often underreported in cancer registries, making it challenging to understand the true burden.’
