Skin Cancer Survivors More Likely to Develop Other Cancers

If you have already survived a non-melanoma skin cancer once, you are significantly more likely to contract melanoma or many other forms of dangerous cancers, compared to people that have never had the ailment, according to a recent study.

The study, published in Cancer and Epidemiology, analyzed more than 500,000 people with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer. These participants were followed for five to six years as researchers carefully looked for any signs of the development of another types of cancer. Their results were then compared to the medical histories of nearly 8.7 million people without any history of skin cancer.

The study concluded that non-melanoma skin cancer survivors were 1.36 times more likely to develop other types of cancer including deadly melanoma skin cancer, bone cancer, blood cancer, and even brain cancer. Interestingly, the researchers also found that the younger the survivor was, the greater their risk was of developing a new cancer. For instance, in non-melanoma skin cancer survivors under the age of 25, the risk of developing another form of cancer was 23 times higher than the chance of cancer development in individuals who have never had the skin cancer.

So what's the difference between these skin cancers anyways? Melanoma skin cancer is the most dangerous and potentially deadly form of skin cancer if left untreated. According to the Mayo Clinic, melanoma cancers develop in your skin pigment and generally occur from overexposure to ultraviolet light, although researchers are still unsure why. Non-melanoma skin cancers occur more naturally and are caused by the formation of abnormal cells located at the base of the outer layer of skin. Most non-melanoma skin cancers are not known to spread, making them easily removable and treated. Because of this, the vast majority of non-melanoma skin cancer patients survive the cancer.

Unfortunately, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-melanoma skin cancers are the most common forms of skin cancer in the U.S. This means that if the aforementioned study proved true, there is a massive demographic in the U.S. facing significantly greater risk of developing more serious cancer conditions.

The study was published in Cancer and Epidemiology on March 6.