UV rays in sunbeds can be up to 10 times stronger than the sun The number of people with skin cancer in Northern Ireland has trebled in the past decade according to the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR). The figures reflect increased over-exposure of skin to damaging UV rays from sun bathing and using sunbeds. Experts will meet on Wednesday in Lisburn to discuss what to do about the increasing rates and how to control the public's use of sunbeds. The NICR shows that in 2006, 259 of melanoma cases were recorded. MELANOMA The most serious form of skin cancer Sun exposure is the main - and most preventable - risk factor Around one third of melanomas develop from normal moles The rest develop on areas of previously normal skin Warning signs include:

Two halves of a mole do not look the same

The edges of the mole are irregular, blurred or jagged

Colour is uneven, with more than one shade

Mole is wider than 6mm Jonathan Guy, a vet from Ballynahinch, was one of those cases. He felt that he was not at risk of skin cancer as he had never actively sunbathed. However, in the summer of 1998, Mr Guy noticed a mole on his right leg. "I could feel it for the first time, it was raised above the surface of the skin, it was also a bit crusty and inflamed looking." Fortunately for Mr Guy, his wife is a GP and she insisted he got it checked out by a dermatologist. Taking his wife's advice meant that doctors caught the malignant melanoma in the early stages and Mr Guy was treated accordingly. It is this awareness and urgency that Professor Roy Waters, the Chair of COMARE (Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment) sunbed sub-group, would like to see more widespread in the UK. He said: "The publicity and the public awareness of the dangers of associated with exposure to solar UV, albeit from the sun or from sunbeds is not well described in the UK. Melanoma is a particularly aggressive form of cancer "We know emphatically that exposure to high doses of solar UV can increase the incidents of melanoma and other skin cancers. "We really have to increase public awareness in a dramatic way in the next few years." At the conference he will be presenting a resume of the COMARE report on sunbed legislation in the UK. The resume shows that with the exception of Scotland, the UK is currently lagging behind a number of Western countries in not having legislation regarding sunbed facilities. However, the good news is that people in Northern Ireland have among the best survival rates for skin cancer in Europe, with 98.8% of patients alive one year after being diagnosed.



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