Researchers said Monday that people who survive the deadliest form of skin cancer are still going to tanning salons, according to the Los Angles Times.
The institute estimates the United States will see 76,690 cases of melanoma in 2013 and as much as 9,480 deaths from the disease. Even though the institute estimates as much as 2,000,000 cases of other types of skin cancer throughout 2013, it only estimates about 1,000 deaths.
According to a survey of survivors of melanoma—that was done in 2010 but presented at an annual meeting in of the American Association of Cancer research on Monday—27.3 percent of survivors say they’ve never used sunscreen in their entire lives. Even after they survive melanoma.
“That blew my mind,” said Dr. Anees Chagpar of Yale University who sat down with colleagues to analyze the data.
The study went on to say that 15.4 percent of melanoma survivors occasionally stayed in the shade and 2.1 percent visited tanning salons during the previous year.
Experts still wonder why patients who've overcome a deadly disease would continue practicing habits that could once again lead to that same disease.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been one of the organizations that have worked to abolish certain myths about skincare. For example, the thought that tanning outside is somehow safer than indoor tanning is a myth. Another myth is that tanning beds give the person tanning a lesser risk of getting sunburn later on.
Mary Trip is a skin cancer prevention expert at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“More study is needed to understand why melanoma survivors practice, or do not practice, sun protection and to understand why they may continue to use tanning beds," she said.
According to the National Cancer Institute, melanoma is:
A form of cancer that begins in melanocytes (cells that make the pigment melanin). It may begin in a mole (skin melanoma), but can also begin in other pigmented tissues, such as in the eye or in the intestines.
