A recent Canadian newspaper article presents the case that melanoma incidence is not actually increasing, as critics of indoor tanning have claimed, but rather that diagnosis of the disease has become more aggressive and is skewing the numbers.

“There is less an epidemic of melanoma than an epidemic of diagnosis,” Dr. Gilbert Welch, a professor of Medicine at Dartmouth Institute for Health is quoted as writing in his book Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health. “Many diagnosed melanomas don’t need treatment in the first place.”

In addition to more evidence from Dr. Welch’s book, the article cites several studies that have reached the same conclusion. One study, Melanoma Epidemic: True or False, published in the International Journal of Dermatology “concluded that melanoma incidence have increased dramatically over the past few decades as a result of increased diagnosis of early melanomas.”

A review of medical literature published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings came to a similar conclusion — that “while there has been a significant increase in the diagnosis of thin melanomas, there has been no change in advanced tumors or subsequent mortality.”

Click here to read the article from The Star Phoenix.

SmartTan.com news articles regularly report medical and scientific information to keep you abreast of current events related to UV light. This information is not intended to be used by any party to make unwarranted health claims to promote sunbed usage. Indoor tanning businesses are obligated to communicate a fair and balanced message to all clients about your products and services including the potential risks associated with indoor tanning. Contact your Smart Tan representative to find out more about what you can and can’t say in your tanning salon business.

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