Nov 06, 2001 (Sunday Star-Times) - WHEN Carina Bock saw the black
mark on her 20-year-old son's back, she immediately feared the worst.
She remembered seeing the mark six years earlier, when it was the
size of a pinhead. Now it was more like a 10c piece.
Two weeks ago her son Trevor Watt complained of a stomach ache and
took his shirt off in front of his mother. "I guess I hadn't really
seen his back for years," said Bock. "I couldn't believe my eyes when
I saw how much the thing had grown."
Doctors sent Watt, of Dargaville, to a skin specialist who said
the mole needed to be removed. Four days later it was. Tests
confirmed it was melanoma.
"I was quite surprised," said Watt. "Everyone was making a big
deal about it but I wasn't really concerned much until I was told
what could have happened to me." If left for much longer, the cancer
would have entered his bloodstream.
Watt said the melanoma had been itchy and bleeding but he hadn't
thought much of it. Nor did he worry about being in the sun without
sunscreen.
"I work in forestry so I'm out in the sun all day and don't wear a
top and I get burnt all the time."
Since hearing about his cancer scare, Watt's boss has made it
compulsory for his workers to wear sunscreen while working in the
sun.
Watt, who knew little about skin cancer or its causes, said he
would now wear clothing and sunscreen in the sun and advised others
to do the same.
Auckland surgeon professor Jim Shaw said he was treating more
young people for skin cancers than ever. "We are the melanoma capital
of the world." He urged people to be sensible in the sun this summer.
"If you're a caucasian living in Auckland, you've got at least a
5% chance of developing melanoma at some stage."
Skin cancer is the most common cancer. Each year 1800 new melanoma
cases and 45,000 new non-melanoma skin cancer cases are diagnosed at
a cost of $33.4 million to the health system. In 1996 194 people died
from melanoma.
Shaw, who works at Ascot Hospital melanoma clinic, sees 10 people
each week for skin cancer treatment and diagnosis - his youngest
patient is 15 years old.
He said the fact more people in their late teens and early 20s
were being treated for skin cancers suggested the sun-safe message
was not being heard.
"The vast majority (of melanomas) are related to sun exposure . .
. the risks are significant and you need to weigh that up when you
are at the beach."
Shaw said his young patients expressed disbelief when they were
diagnosed because they thought they were too young to be affected.
"Either we haven't got the message out about the risks or they
haven't cottoned-on."
General Practitioners' Association chairwoman Tricia Briscoe
agreed. "Teenagers still believe (cancer) will happen to someone
else. They think brown is still beautiful. I think we've got the
message about drink-driving across to them better than we have about
keeping their skin safe."
Hamilton dermatologist Marius Rademaker had "too many" young
clients. "Every week we'll see people under the age of 20 with sun
skin damage."
He said it was easy to educate children under 10 about being sun
safe but after then many children formed their own opinions and
tended to rebel and ignore warnings about staying out of the sun.
