SKIN CANCER.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19667, 10 July 1929, Page 8

SKIN CANCER.

A DOCTOR'S WARNING. (FROM OITS OWI COSKBSPOJTDeKT.) SYDNEY, June 27. The serenity of many a woman's life in Australia has been rudely disturbed. She is wondering whether, because she has once again become a slave to fashion she is liable to be attacked by that most dreaded of ail diseases, cancer. These close fitting felt hats, this cropped hair. Are they dangerous? A theory that the low relative humidity of the atmosphere and much sunshine are causes of the great prevalence of skin cancer in Australia is discussed by Dr. Herman Lawrence, dermatologist, of Melbourne, in an : article in the current bulletin of the Victorian Health Department. Dr. Lawrence states that a great number of persons have the power of acquiring pigmentation of the skin as a protection against the penetrating effects of the solar rays, and it was said that Australians were rapidly becoming a dark-skinned people. "That statement was not scientific-ally correct. Tlif 1 advisability of allowing persons with non-pigmenting skins to enter Australia and work in the inland areas, however, was open tr> question. The. article continue* :--"Thp present-day fxigencics of society for ladies —partial nudity and the shinclc —are already j reaping a toll in the form of solar ray blemishes, and actual pre-cancerous conditions have developed in some cases. A fashion of dress obtaining in Europe and suitable for the climate there, is by no means advisable to adopt for Australia. As regards the shingle and the closely fitting cloth hats, ronditions annulling the functions of the hair wi!l show in future that baldness is not for men only. Pitvraisis capitis, a precursor of baldness. ! is becoming much more prevalent in the female scalp. The common us© of hairbrushes at clubs and business places favours the spread of baldness. Persons w ho sunburn badly, and epecial.'v who are developing the skin irritation known as Koratoses Solaris should take a lesson from X-ray workers and prevent as well as they can an v unnecessary exposure of the affected 'kin to th» sun's ray*.*'