Skin cancer cases reach all-time high

Sadly my dear brother died of melanoma two years ago – just four years from diagnosis and only able to enjoy 5 years of retirement. Not a sun worshipper but spent many hours on his allotment. We all miss him hugely as a family and pray that research will cause fewer families to experience this great loss. Keep applying the sunscreen everyone!

Hi, I have known about the risk of ski damage for many years, I’m now 84, and in my early years it was never considered a problem. I have had a very thick head of hair but as the years have passed my hair cover thinned and receeded.
I have long history of Walking, Climbing, Mountaineering and Skiing , here and abroad and at high altitude and initally without a head covering, except when wearing a helmet. Now I have skin damage on my scalp even though I started using various forms of head covering quite a number years ago, the damage had been done. Various treatments are seemingly keeping it in check, I hope. But all this does make me much more aware of the risk. I do tell others but it does seem like water off a ducks back at times but in general people are much more aware about it now.
On one ski holiday, after I had started using a hat, one of the other guys in the chalet, who was quite dark skinned, and ‘never suffered from fron sun burn’ did so on that holiday. That made others in the chalet take notice.
I have for some time now used a hat when going outside, even if it is just to put rubbish in the bin. It has now become an ingrained habit. The dangers have been even more obvious because someon that I know, after suffering reoccuring small cancerous ‘marks’ on his skin, removed surgically, he still succumed to skin cancer. Pale skinned and removing his shirt when outside.
I do have one advantage my hairy arms and legs seem to stop those areas from being affected, not that I like the being out in the sun anyway. I still go out mountain biking and usually the exposure is just a few hours and often with variable tree cover and I wear a skull cap under my helmet.
So I hope to survive for good few more years without any further skin damage.
BUT the attitude, it won’t happen to me, is still widespread.

Thank you for addressing the concerning rise in skin cancer cases, Cancer Research UK team. Your article sheds light on the urgency of raising awareness about skin cancer prevention and early detection. It’s alarming to see the increasing numbers, but your emphasis on sun safety measures, regular skin checks, and the importance of early diagnosis offers hope for better outcomes. By educating the public and advocating for proactive health practices, you’re playing a crucial role in combating this growing health issue. Keep up the vital work in supporting research and promoting initiatives to reduce the impact of skin cancer.

Please provide a link to cited research (as here in para 3). It’s infuriating not to be able to go directly to the source data—so easy to implement with hyperlinks, or at least footnotes. I’m a doctor, but I can’t be the only person wanting to check the methodology, confidence intervals of the point estimate, and external validity of results, and so on.
It’s just good practice!