After Melanoma, Quest for ‘Perfect Tan’ Remains

Melanoma is rarely an isolated event — survivors face a lifetime risk of recurrence, which is why researchers were dismayed to learn that as many as one in four survivors never wear sunscreen when going outside on a warm, sunny day.
Additionally, 2% reported using tanning beds in the past year, and 15.4% of melanoma survivors said they rarely or never avoided sun by staying in the shade.
Anees B. Chagpar, MD, MPH, associate professor of surgery at Yale School of Medicine and director of the breast center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, said the risk of a second primary melanoma is nine times greater among survivors than the risk of melanoma in the general population.
Chagpar, who reported the results of the analysis at the American Association for Cancer Research, said that irrespective of that widely acknowledged risk, 27.3% of melanoma survivors reported never wearing sunscreen when going outside on a

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