Melanoma cancer a real problem for Vic’s over 60
Melanoma cancer rates are now at their highest recorded level in Victoria with health officials especially concerned that the skin cancer is hitting people over 60.
The rates jumped by 19% in 2005 to 2,347 cases and now melanoma is the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer after prostate, bowel, and breast cancer, with six Victorians a week being diagnosed with the potentially fatal condition.
Peter Foley, associate professor of dermatology at St Vincent’s Hospital, said the increase was “not just a blip – it is a trend that will continue. It is a concern because despite our education melanoma rates are still increasing, but it’s particularly going up in those over the age of 60”.
“Public education has only been around since 1980 so it’s the lag period. Our parents’ generation were sunning themselves before there was any such thing as sunscreen – it was suntan lotion and baby oil – so while protection as an adult is important, it is childhood exposure that sets people up,” Professor Foley said.
Actual deaths from melanoma dropped from 261 in 2004 to 245 in 2005 but research showed that around 360,000 Victorian adults still get sunburnt on an average summer weekend.
