Shape Magazine
Skin Cancer
Who is at risk?
Doctors cannot explain why one person develops skin cancer and another does not. But research has shown that people with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop skin cancer. These include:
• Ultraviolet (UV) radiation comes from the sun, sunlamps, tanning beds, or tanning booths. A person's risk of skin cancer is related to lifetime exposure to UV radiation. Most skin cancer appears after age 50, but the sun damages the skin from an early age.
UV radiation affects everyone. But people who have fair skin that freckles or burns easily are at greater risk. These people often also have red or blond hair and light-colored eyes. But even people who tan can get skin cancer.
People who live in areas that get high levels of UV radiation have a higher risk of skin cancer. In the United States, areas in the south (such as Texas and Florida) get more UV radiation than areas in the north (such as Minnesota). Also, people who live in the mountains get high levels of UV radiation.
To keep in mind: UV radiation is present even in cold weather or on a cloudy day.
• Scars or burns on the skin
• Infection with certain human papillomaviruses
• Chronic skin inflammation or skin ulcers
• Diseases that make the skin sensitive to the sun, such as xeroderma pigmentosum, albinism, and basal cell nevus syndrome
• Radiation therapy
• Medical conditions or drugs that suppress the immune system
• Personal history of one or more skin cancers
• Family history of skin cancer
• Actinic keratosis is a type of flat, scaly growth on the skin. It is most often found on areas exposed to the sun, especially the face and the backs of the hands. The growths may appear as rough red or brown patches on the skin. They may also appear as cracking or peeling of the lower lip that does not heal. Without treatment, a small number of these scaly growths may turn into squamous cell cancer.
• Bowen's disease, a type of scaly or thickened patch on the skin, may turn into squamous cell skin cancer.
If someone has had a type of skin cancer other than melanoma, the risk for getting another kind of cancer may be more than doubled, regardless of age, ethnicity or lifestyle factors such as smoking. The two most common skin cancers -- basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas -- are often dismissed as relatively harmless, but they might serve as an early warning sign for cancer of the breast, colon, lung, liver and ovaries, among others. Other studies have shown a smaller but still significant correlation.
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