Why wasn't skin cancer a common cause of death before the invention of sun screen then?

[emkana]

I understand the importance of sun protection, I really do. But what I keep wondering about is this: Before sun screen was invented people were exposed to the sun all the time, and far more than people today in many cases (more work being done outdoors), so was skin cancer a really common cause of death then?

When I was 16 (1992) I went to Australia and stayed with a host family. The father had had several malignant skin cancers removed and told me that most of the men he knows of his generation have had malignant moles removed.

I know of several friends of my grandmother's (she's 90) who died following skin cancer. She lived in Africa for some time and knew them because they were also expats. Generally malignant melanomas on their noses/back of neck.

Yes, an outdoor lifestyle and a fair skin may well contribute to melanoma etc but there is still a bloody big hole in the ozone layer down under. dh says the sun is much fiercer in NZ than it was when he grew there - I've only been slightly sunburnt 2 times in my life. The worst case was in NZ and occured within about 15 minutes or so, in the late afternoon. And I don't have fair skin

Not read the other answers but one take on it is that it can take a while for skin cancer to develop, so all those people who didnt use sunscreen years ago (because it didnt exist!) are only just now starting to get symptoms. So we are all aware of how it can affect you now, but also have the sunscreens to use. My mum is now mid 60s and has been treated over the last 10 years or so for various benign skin cancer "bits" that she probably got from her teens & early 20s living in the far & middle east.

My mother has malignant melanoma and has always been a sunworshipper, never using higher than Factor 2, even post diagnosis. Her brother died from it in the early 90s, when not so much was known about it. My grandmother has it as well (although as she's 96, she is not too worried about it!), as does my cousin. They are all redhaired with light eyes and my Mum's consultant has said that it may be genetic, as there have been so many in our family.

Suntanning only became fashionable in the 20s when Coco Chanel went on a sailing holiday and invented a new look. Until then, having tanned skin was a sign that you had to work () out-of-doors () for your living and therefore avoided as much as possible. And although you can get sunburnt in UK, there really isn't that much sun-exposure compared to what you get on your week/fortnight holiday on the Med - and foreign holidays only really took off in the 60s.

I imagine that people who live in sunnier countries probably have a lower incidence of skin cancer because of 'survival of the fittest' over the generations. Of course that doesn't hold for Australians, as most of them were Europeans too recently for the sensitivity to sunlight to have been bred out of them.

the sun is stronger because we have killed the ozone layer

I often wondered that as well. My mum said that in old days upper class people would cover themselves right up cause only poor people - i.e manual labourers had tans as they worked outside and most manual labourers in those days probably died of malaria etc. before skin cancer got to them.

it has nothing to do with how much you cover up its to do with climate change

until JFK made it trendy, men always wore hats of one fashion or another.

Of course it's to do with covering up! Pioneers in America and Australia were suddenly exposed to severe climate change in that they were exposed to far more sunlight than they had ever experienced in Manchester or the East End, yet they didn't develop skin cancers - because they remained covered up with hats/bonnets, long sleeves, long skirts/trousers.

And skin cancer isn't specifically an age-related disease. That's why it's becoming 'epidemic' - it's appearing in younger and younger people, even in their 20s. It's to do with excessive sun exposure, particularly during childhood, but also at any other time of your life.

The Australians with skin cancer today were 'damaged' before the hole developed in the ozone layer.

we are all doomed

Yeah. Get that sun-bonnet on now. (Even though it's the middle of the night.)

and we have no sun hhahahhhaahah

Probably just wasn't diagnosed in those times, apart from all the other factors like people dying of other things first (and climate change). And when did they start doing post-mortems?

Melanoma has been recognised for over 150 years:

here

people wore a lot more covering - think gloves, hats, tights, no bare shoulders, midriffs and no sitting around for hours on end baking oneself.

Fanjo - skin cancer is not only the domain of the old - my bro got some lasered from his face whilst in his 20's and 30's.

Pretty Candles - you are right about the cancers developing years before anything is done. Again my great uncle - worked outdoors all his life - greenkeeper of bowls club and he has had a number of cancerous moles and melanomas removed as well.

people have a lot more recreation and leisure time as well.

And also ... the key is NOT TO GET SUNBURN ...
If you get burned that is the damage that can come back in later years as melanoma.
Yes, sunshine is important and yes I agree that 10 minutes max. (in NZ) without sun block will give them the goodness of the sun ... but just please avoid your children getting burned.
I was a child in the '70s and can't remember how many times I have been sunburned ... ... I remember the Factor 0 suntan oil being liberally poured all over me and then spending all day on the beach - then crying with agony that evening from sunburn. And my mum lovingly covering me with After Sun saying soothingly, "There there, you'll be nice and brown by the time we go home" - she didn't know any better either
As a result I have my moles checked regularly and have had 3 removed (weren't malignant but the doctor didn't like the look of them).

My children are fair - they go out in the sun, I am relaxed for the first 10 minutes then it is on with the sunblock and on with the hats .... they have never been sunburned and that is the way I'd like to keep it.

Not to mention the fact that the sun ages you - you should see my MIL ... she has the body of a 12 year old and the face of a 110 year old - I have never seen so many wrinkles on one face (she is a 65 year old kiwi farmer)

I remember reading around 15 years ago, that someone tried to sue suncream manufacturers because they had always applied it, and they still got cancer, and the manufacturer turned round and said, well we dont guarantee that our product will stop you getting cancer.