Slip, slop, slap mantra is not getting through

A decade on from its discovery, New Zealand has the highest rate of melanoma in the world, a leading expert in skin cancer says.

"And this will remain so unless New Zealanders get the message of 'slip, slop, slap'," said Professor Jim Shaw.

Releasing fresh research on melanoma, Professor Shaw, of Auckland, said: "So many New Zealanders are of Celtic origin, with fair skin, yet they still go out in the strong ozone-depleted South Pacific sun with little or no protection.

"The only solution is education and protecting your largest organ, namely your skin.

"Melanoma is one of the most unpredictable cancers and can quickly spread to every other part of the body.

"If you have moles that are definitely changing, in particular getting darker, itchy, bleeding or growing, you need to get them removed within a matter of weeks - waiting several months or a year will make a world of difference."

Professor Shaw is to present his research at the Quincentenary (500th anniversary) of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in July.

He has been doing research on melanoma of the head and neck, which accounts for 18 per cent of all melanoma despite being only 9 per cent of the skin's surface area.

Professor Shaw has operated on several thousand New Zealanders with melanoma, several hundred of whom had the disease in the head and neck area.

He hoped his research would establish a blueprint for how melanoma behaves in the head and neck area and how it should be treated.

Professor Shaw is only one of three New Zealanders to be made a member of prestigious surgical society the James IV Association of Surgeons.

He is the only active New Zealand member - the others were heart surgeon Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes and World War II reconstructive plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe.

- NZPA