If you live in Australia, you live in the country with the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. In Queensland, the risk is even higher.
In fact, around two in three Australians will be diagnosed with some form of skin cancer during their lifetime.
Every exposure adds to the record your skin keeps over time, and the cells underneath remember far longer than a fading sunburn.
Understanding how this process works makes it much easier to protect your health and recognise when a skin check is worth considering.
What This Article Covers
- How skin cancer develops
- How sunscreen protects the skin
- What can happen when UV damage accumulates
- What happens during a skin check
- Three common myths about sun exposure
How Skin Cancer Develops
Skin cancer begins with ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which the human eye can’t see.
When UV rays reach the skin, they penetrate the outer layers and interact with the DNA inside skin cells.
These rays can cause tiny injuries to the genetic instructions that control how cells grow and repair themselves.
Your body is remarkably good at fixing this damage, so most of the time, repair systems correct the problem before it causes harm.
However, repeated exposure creates a different situation.
Over time the repair process becomes less reliable, and some cells keep small DNA errors.
These cells may continue to divide even when they should stop.
The process often unfolds gradually:
- UV radiation damages DNA inside skin cells
- The body repairs most of this damage
- Some damaged cells remain
- Those cells multiply slowly
- A visible lesion or mole begins to change
This is why skin cancer can appear decades after the exposure that started the process.
How Sunscreen Works and What SPF Means
Sunscreen reduces the amount of ultraviolet radiation that reaches the skin.
Chemical filters absorb UV radiation and convert it into a small amount of heat before it can damage cells. Mineral filters such as zinc oxide sit on the surface of the skin and scatter part of the incoming radiation.
SPF stands for Sun Protection Factor and relates to protection against UVB radiation, the main cause of sunburn.
The SPF number does not represent a percentage of protection. Instead, it refers to how much UVB radiation reaches the skin.
For example:
- SPF 30 allows about 1/30th of UVB radiation through
- SPF 50 allows about 1/50th
In other words, SPF 50 provides slightly more protection, but the difference is smaller than many people expect.
No sunscreen blocks all ultraviolet radiation, which is why reapplication remains important after swimming, sweating, or spending long periods outdoors.
What Happens When UV Damage Builds Up
When abnormal skin cells continue to grow unchecked, they can form skin cancers.
Many begin as small changes in the skin’s surface. A mole may change colour, a spot may slowly enlarge, or a patch of skin may not heal.
Some cancers remain localised to the skin. Others, particularly melanoma, have the ability to spread deeper into surrounding tissue and eventually travel through lymphatic channels or the bloodstream to other parts of the body.
This is why early detection makes such a difference. When skin cancers are identified at an early stage they are often removed with a minor procedure before they have the opportunity to spread.
What Happens During a Skin Check
A professional skin check is a careful examination of the skin performed by a doctor trained to recognise suspicious lesions.
At Morningside General Practice Clinic this usually involves a head-to-toe review of the skin, including areas that are difficult to see yourself such as the scalp, back and backs of the legs.
Doctors assess features such as:
- new or changing moles
- irregular pigment patterns
- lesions that do not heal
- unusual shapes or borders
Magnification tools can be used to examine spots in greater detail.
Skin checks are quick and painless.
If a lesion looks unusual, your doctor may photograph it for monitoring or arrange a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.
Events such as Melanoma March help raise awareness about melanoma and encourage Australians to take early detection seriously.
Three Sun Myths Cleared Up
Myth 1: Skin checks are only for fair skin or outdoor workers.
While lighter skin carries higher risk, people of all skin tones develop skin cancers in Australia. Spending most of your time indoors also does not remove risk.
Myth 2: You cannot get sun damage through car windows.
Front windscreens are designed to block most UV radiation, but many side windows allow significant UVA radiation to pass through, which contributes to long-term skin damage.
Myth 3: A mole that does not hurt is harmless.
Most skin cancers do not cause pain in their early stages, which is why visual examination is important.
Stay Aware of Your Skin
Skin changes often happen gradually and are easy to overlook in everyday routines.
If you have noticed a new spot, a changing mole, or simply want to be sure, the doctors at Morningside General Practice Clinic can perform a thorough skin review and advise if anything needs further attention.
Booking a skin check is a straightforward way to understand what your skin has recorded over the years and to protect your health moving forward.
Skin checks save lives.
