The incidence of melanoma in the State has risen by 3 per cent each year, and the number of women affected has not levelled off, the Sixth Congress of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology heard yesterday at UCD.
Dr Louise Barnes, a consultant dermatologist at St James's Hospital, said the Southern Tumour Registry shows a steady increase from 1975 to 1991. The first report of the National Cancer Registry showed that there were 480 cases of melanoma in the State, and one third of all cancers recorded in 1994 were skin cancer.
"We are on a par really with other countries. But what we have not seen is a levelling-off among women, as seen in Australia and Scotland. There is a high female to male incidence here - 1.8 to 1. It is the fifth-highest rate for females in Europe", she said.
Legs are a particular danger area for Irish females - for every melanoma seen on the leg of one male there are five females affected. Melanomas on the face account for a third of all cases.
Dr Barnes said that this was possibly because women were more concerned about tanning and spent more time in the sun and on sun beds. She said that while people have been encouraged to come forward at an early stage, more education campaigns are needed.
The female survival rate, 75 per cent for five years, is far better than that for men - 45 per cent for the same period.
Dr Barnes stressed that the survival rate is excellent if the melanoma is caught early, and in recent years people have presented earlier. She said that people with moles are not the only ones who get melanomas and everyone should be vigilant.