Experts have spoken out explaining what the key red flag risk factors are for skin cancer in the wake of a big row over using sun cream. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London and founder of the Zoe health app, had caused a storm by saying some people were using too much sunscreen when it was unnecessary which could be causing harm due to the person getting less vitamin D - which is vital for health including preventing dementia and stopping the risks of some cancers. Prof Spector took to Instagram to interview Dr Veronique Bataille, who is a consultant dermatologist and an expert in sunlight and melanoma - and also his wife - to discuss what the real risk factors are.
And the pair revealed that far and away the biggest risk factors are hair and eye colour and a good test is counting the number of moles on a person’s arm. He said they had done some work in the past on the issue and explained: “One of the biggest risk factors for melanoma looking at the population and for risk of melanoma was how many moles you had just on your arm. Wasn’t that right?” Dr Bataille said: “That was really trying to make life easier for people to say ‘how can I determine my risk’.
” She said it was difficult to get people to count their whole body and added: “ It would be a bit boring and most people would not to count them all. If you have quite a lot of more on one arm already, you could classify yourself as a higher risk if you’ve got more .
