Made in the shade

Protection from UV exposure is the best way to peg back New Zealand's alarmingly high melanoma mortality rate.

- Nicky Pellegrino

The news that this country has the world's highest rates of melanoma cases and deaths hasn't come as a huge surprise. We have been vying with Australia for that unenviable top spot for years. We share high UV light levels, an outdoor lifestyle and a population that includes lots of fair-skinned people who are vulnerable to sun damage. Now, with skin cancer rates predicted to rise steeply over the next 20 years, there are concerns that New Zealand is lagging behind when it comes to prevention and treatment.

Needless to say, the situation was on the agenda at the MelNet Summit, a two-day online gathering of health professionals involved in melanoma prevention, diagnosis, treatment and research. Palmerston North dermatologist Louise Reiche says although multiple areas of concern have been identified, so have many measures that could help tackle the problem.

Louise Reiche

A place to start may be tanning salons. Since 2017, it has been illegal to allow under-18s to use commercial sunbeds because of their increased risk of developing melanoma. However, Consumer NZ mystery shoppers funded by the Ministry of Health have found some salons ignoring the regulation and others failing to properly explain the risks to fair-skinned customers. Reiche would like to see a total ban on commercial sunbeds.

Nail salons that use short bursts of UV light to set gel manicures concern her, too. “You are getting intense UV under the nail bed," she says, "and we are starting to see more squamous cell cancers as well as melanoma in and around the nail area, which is usually a less common site. Unfortunately, it has a worse prognosis, perhaps because it tends to be picked up a little later, or because of a more aggressive pathology at those sites."