Vítor Veloso, president of the LPCC, said that the ‘How long has it been since you last saw your back’ campaign aims to give continuity to previous campaigns about skin cancer, but this time reinforcing the need for people to keep checking their backs as “a significant percentage of these tumours emerge on this part of the body.”
“The back is a region that few people see, sporadically they might see it in the mirror, but not up close”, and therefore the LPCC wants sun-lovers to “start being more attentive to moles and spots on this area of the body”, he added.
Mr. Veloso, an oncologist, also recommended people to keep an eye on other parts of the body that are susceptible to beauty spots, such as the scalp, neck, ears, thighs and thesoles of the feet.
He added that the new campaign also aims to stress the point that exposure to the sun without taking the necessary precautions is proven to raise the risk of developing this type of cancer.
According to the oncologist, “it is necessary to explain that, on top of sun cream [the Portuguese] should also pay attention to new moles that have emerged on the skin and could be a sign of skin cancer.”
“Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the world, which shows up most frequently, but happily in most cases it is curable, as long as it is treated, but we must pay the greatest attention to one in particular which from an oncologist’s point of view deserves a lot of respect, and that is melanoma”, Vitor Veloso stressed.
A number of famous Portuguese personalities including fado singer Cuca Roseta and actresses Liliana Santos and Sara Matos are giving their faces to the campaign, in a video which appeals to viewers to keep an eye on moles on the back.
The LPCC warns that skin cancer is generally caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolent rays and “is more common among people aged over 50, but can affect anyone.”
The incidence of the various types of skin cancer have grown throughout the world, and it is estimated that in Portugal, this year, 12,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed, 1,000 of which will be new cases of melanoma.