Health

14 HEALTH • Summer 2017 greater risk for all sorts of cancers every year. Also, increased leisure time and damage to the ozone layer means many of us have spent more time hanging out in the sun while sunlight has gotten more dangerous. And rising rates of skin cancer among young people—particularly women—suggest tanning beds have also contributed significantly to the problem. Now, here's the good news. Doctors are finding cancers earlier, and developing increasingly effective ways to treat them. There are a number of different skin cancers, but the most important distinction is between melanoma and everything else. The non- melanoma diseases—including basal cell and squamous cell cancers—are by far the most H ere's the bad news: skin cancer diagnoses are on the rise. In particular, new cases of melanoma of the skin—the most dangerous sort of skin cancer—more than tripled between 1975 and 2014, according to the National Cancer Institute. "Unfortunately, (rates are) still increasing in spite of the fact that we do more screening and we always talk about sun protection and really work on that," said Dr. Mary Maloney, director of dermatologic surgery and professor of dermatology at UMass Medical School in Worcester. Maloney said there are a number of reasons that's true. First, baby boomers are getting older, which means a larger part of the population is at Dr. Kala Seetharaman, medical director for hematology and oncology at MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham, said fewer patients suffer from advanced skin cancer today than a decade ago because public awareness is greater. BRIGHTER DAYS Skin cancer rates are growing, but so are treatment options. \\ By Livia Gershon P H O T O / D R E A M S T I M E . C O M

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