People with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop skin cancer. Risk factors vary for different types of skin cancer, but some general risk factors are having:
A lighter natural skin color.
Family history of skin cancer.
A personal history of skin cancer.
Exposure to the sun through work and play.
A history of sunburns early in life.
A history of indoor tanning.
Skin that burns, freckles, reddens easily, or becomes painful in the sun.
Blue or green eyes.
Blond or red hair.
Certain types and a large number of moles.
Risk factors for melanoma skin cancer?
A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. Some risk factors, like smoking and excess sun exposure, can be changed. Others, like a person's age or family history, can't be changed.
Purpose risk factors don't tell us everything. Having a risk factor, or even several risk factors does not mean that you will get the disease. And some people who get the disease may have few or no known risk factors. Even if a person with melanoma has a risk factor, it is often very hard to know how much that risk factor might have contributed to the cancer.
Scientists have found several risk factors that could make a person more likely to develop melanoma:
Ultraviolet (UV) light exposure
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a major risk factor for most melanomas. Sunlight is the main source of UV rays. Tanning lamps and beds are also sources of UV rays. People who get a lot of exposure to light from these sources are at greater risk for skin cancer, including melanoma.
Moles
A nevus (the medical name for a mole) is a benign (non-cancerous) pigmented tumor. Moles are not usually present at birth but begin to appear in children and young adults. Most moles will never cause any problems, but a person who has many moles is more likely to develop melanoma.
Fair skin, freckling, and light hair
The risk of melanoma is more than 10 times higher for whites than for African Americans. Whites with red or blond hair, blue or green eyes, fair skin that freckles gold gold burns easily are at increased risk.
Family history of melanoma
Your risk of melanoma is greater if 1 or more first-degree relative (parent, brother, sister, or child) has had melanoma. Around 10% of all people with melanoma have a family history of the disease.
Age
Although melanoma is more likely to occur in older people, this is a cancer that is also found in younger people. In fact, melanoma is one of the most common cancers in people younger than 30 (especially younger women). Melanoma that runs in families may occur at a younger age.
The Genetics of Skin Cancer
Approximately one in 60 people will develop invasive, cutaneous melanoma during their lifetime. Malignant melanoma is a cancer that begins in the melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells in the skin. In fair-complexioned individuals worldwide, the majority of melanoma cases are related to environmental factors such as excessive ultraviolet radiation (sun exposure). However, about 5 percent to 10 percent of melanoma cases are inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion. In other words, parents with a defined genetic mutation have a 50-50 chance to pass on the susceptibility to each of their children regardless of gender.
One type of hereditary melanoma, called the familial atypical mole-melanoma syndrome (FAM - M syndrome), may be caused by mutations in the CDKN2A gene on chromosome 9, also known as the p16 mutation. This mutation may be present in up to 40 percent of the family cases of melanoma, and testing for the p16 mutation should be considered in the setting of a strong family history of melanoma. Mutations in p16 result in unregulated cell growth. Persons with a p16 mutation have an increased lifetime risk of developing melanoma as well as a potentially increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer.
http://www.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/skin-cancer-factors-and-genetics-Revelaed-6666885.html
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