Skin Cancer Risk Factors: Physical Characteristics Factors
Physical Characteristics
The white people of Scottish, English or Irish with blond or red hair, blue eyes and abundant freckles are especially susceptible.
Melanoma is very rare in the population being predominantly black or Oriental, when it occurs, little pigmented areas such as palms and plants and their prognosis is worse. The sensitivity of skin to sun tanning and the difficulty increases the risk of melanoma.
The skin reaction to sunlight is associated with factors such as skin pigmentation, the number of freckles in childhood or adulthood and the number of nevi (moles-like formations, which are benign melanocytic tumors), accounting for all factors risk for cutaneous malignant melanoma.
The highest incidence of nevi in Caucasians leads to the notion that ultraviolet radiation plays an important role in the development of nevi.
It has been proven the existence of an increased number of nevi in areas of sun-exposed skin than in protected areas, associating its increase with a greater propensity to burn than tan, the number of sunburns, the tendency to freckles and style of life associated with increased sun exposure.
A person with sensitive skin to the sun, more than 150 melanocytic nevi and dysplastic nevi any (with similar microscopic appearance of malignant melanoma cells), might have 50 times the risk of melanoma than someone without these characteristics.