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Ed Yeates reportingThe rate of the deadliest form of skin cancer continues to rise in Utah, and that worries the state health department. Utah now ranks among the 10 highest states for melanomas, and the numbers just keep going up.
Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun and from tanning parlors continue to damage our skin. Melanoma is now killing on the average of 63 Utah residents every year.
MaryAnn Gerber never worried much until she was diagnosed with a melanoma on her face. "I had a single melanoma on my left cheek, and then one on my lower back; and then just this past December, on this new scar here, I had a basil," she said.
Utah's skin-cancer rate has steadily increased over the past 28 years. In the last three years alone, the rate has jumped more than 18 percent.
"When my doctor called and told me I had melanoma, I told him, ‘You mixed my biopsies up with an old man,'" Gerber said.
In addition to exposure to the sun, Gerber was using a tanning parlor. She was told those kind of UV rays were safe.
But Kalynn Filion, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Health, said, "It penetrates deeper into the skin, so it causes more harm. It thins the layer of the skin, and so it actually interferes with our ability to heal."
"The consequences of tanning isn't worth dying at 24. I almost died at 24 because I thought tanning was something I wanted to do," Gerber said.
At our altitude, outside in the sun there's less filtration of UV rays. We get more intense exposure. What concerns the state health department, when you look at the number, is apparently the message is not getting through.
State health officials say: Have fun in the sun, but protect yourself. Apply SPF 15 or higher sunscreen 30 minutes before spending time in the sun, then reapply every two hours. Create your own shade with an umbrella or shade structure. And fads or fashions aside, do the practical: Go back to wearing a brim hat.
"I do wear my drachio hats. They're my broad-brimmed hats, and I love them. I always wear my big UV-blocking sunglasses," Gerber said.
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