Most people living in Australia are at risk of skin cancer, but some people are more at risk. These are people who:
- are fair skinned and burn quickly
- have freckles and/or moles
- were exposed to the Australian sun as children
- suntan deliberately
- have a family history of skin cancer
- work outdoors for long periods of time
- use solariums, sunlamps and sunbeds
Some more information is at:
http://www.sunsmart.com.au/browse.asp?ContainerID=1540Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, with around 374,000 Australians treated for a non-melanoma (non-life threatening) skin cancer and more than 8,800 are diagnosed with a melanoma each year.
Over 1300 Australians die from melanoma or non-melanoma skin cancer each year.
http://www.cancer.org.au/content.cfm?randid=502435How does Skin Cancer in Australia compare to the UK ?There are over 69,000 new cases of skin cancer diagnosed each year in the UK
Many cases are not reported, so the real number of cases is probably much higher
The number of cases has more than doubled since the early 80s
Over 2,000 people die from skin cancer each year in the UK
In fact, there are more skin cancer deaths in the UK than in Australia, even though Australia has more cases of the disease. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sunsmart/skincancer/From all the talk about the sun etc, you would expect Australia to have a
much higher rate of Skin cancer incidents and Deaths. But the risk of Death from it, is only twice as high as the UK.
Obviously still high, but not as high as some people may have thought, considering the weather here.
Maybe skin cancers get noticed earlier, and therefore treated before becoming Life threatening. Many Doctors have the equipment to test for these cancers, and recommend annual check ups for it. I had my first check recently, covered 100% by Bulk Billing, although not all areas have Bulk Billing Doctors.