We are teetering toward a public health disaster. This year, a staggering 16,800 Australians are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma, with someone diagnosed every thirty minutes. As the incidence of melanoma continues to increase, experts are urging better education and prevention efforts. Professor Georgina Long, a leading researcher into melanoma, explains how important immunotherapy drugs are. Since their introduction in 2010, these therapies have nearly doubled survival rates for patients.
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, typically is connected with behaviors like overexposure to the sun and indoor tanning. This public awareness campaign, including the signature “Slip, Slop, Slap” program, established in 1981 has provided a real change. Yet dangerous tanning trends are still booming, particularly among young Australians. Professor Anne Cust, Chair of the Cancer Council’s National Skin Cancer Committee, is alarmed by the trend. She points out that one in five young Australians attempted to tan in the past year. Alarmingly, less than 50 per cent of Australians apply enough sun protection.
With tanning’s increasing trendiness, influencers such as Tayla Broad are speaking out. She has personally witnessed the horrifying effects of skin cancer take their toll on the people she cares about most. She advocates for a societal shift in thinking about tanning today.
“We can all be aware just how damaging the tanning culture can be, even with the likes of fake tanning. So, join me on this journey to challenge the way we view tanning and why we feel the need to tan to be beautiful.” – Tayla Broad
In the past few years, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has sent warnings and enforcement actions against misleading health claims for tanning products. Secondly, they have prohibited testimonials on social media that claim any medical benefits for skincare and vitamins. Unfortunately, as Professor Cust identifies, an ironic state of affairs. Despite increased awareness of skin cancer risks, the trend of tanning persists, particularly in the online beauty community.
The first is that they are a young audience that is extremely driven by outcomes and impact. I receive a beautiful summertime, I found myself looking at useful developed the way many beautiful people seem to be. I look good. I feel great. I don’t have a consequence due to arrive for another 35 years. That’s future me’s problem,” said senior author Dr. Stephen Dann.
The melanoma risk assessment tool found at melanomarisk.org.au gives people personalized, data-driven predictions directed to their individual level of risk. A woman born and raised in New South Wales has a one in three lifetime risk of getting melanoma. This statistic illustrates the importance of skin health awareness in the south. Experts warn that it is still abysmal.
Professor Long has spearheaded research that has re-shaped the outlook for melanoma patients with immunotherapy treatments. Once regarded as a nearly fatal diagnosis, advancements in treatment now provide patients with more than a fifty percent chance of survival.
“There is a handshake that the cancer cell would give the immune system or the immune cells so that the immune cells would say ‘this is my friend, this is my family, off I go, I won’t kill you.’ But these drugs, checkpoint inhibitors, interrupt that handshake and allow those immune T cells to kill the cancer cells,” Professor Long explained regarding her groundbreaking work.
Even with these innovations, many are still worried about sun exposure and its relationship to skin aging and cancer development.
“UV radiation that you get from the sun, there are different types of UV radiation. UVA is responsible for a lot of the aging that we see from sun exposure and the UVB is responsible for a lot of the burning. So, if you are concerned about beauty, it is much better to stay out of the sun,” advised Professor Cust.
This new tanning trend is not without its complications. The excessive bombardment of information and social norms regarding beauty standards only aggravates the issue. Campaigns such as “Slip, Slop, Slap” have informed generations on sun safety. We want to encourage everybody to reconsider their tanning behavior and consider safer alternatives,” said experts.
