Final Reflection continued....

The other thing I was happy about was that the brief actually tried to address a social need.  So often fashion only deals with the superficial - addressing a need or function is not even considered. According to Australian Government Stats:

• Australia has the highest skin cancer incidence rate in the world¹.
• Australians are four times more likely to develop a skin cancer than any other form of cancer².
• Approximately two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70³.

Melanoma

• While melanoma is the least common type of skin cancer, it is the most life threatening form of skin cancer. In 2007, there were 10,342 new cases of melanoma, making it overall the fourth most common form of cancer in Australia⁶.
• Total deaths from melanoma were 1,279⁶.
• Melanoma is also one of the most common cancers affecting youth in Australia⁴.

Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC)

• NMSC are the most common cancers diagnosed in Australia, with approximately 430,000 new cases estimated to have been diagnosed in 2008⁵.
• Of these 430,000 NMSC cases, an estimated 296,000 were Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and an estimated 138,000 were Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases. It should be noted however, that NMSC is not reportable by law to cancer registries, like other cancers including melanoma, therefore the true incidence of BCC and SCC is not known⁴.
• In 2007, there were 448 reported deaths from NMSC⁶.
• ¹ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (2004). Cancer in Australia 2001. AIHW cat. no. CAN 23. Canberra, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
  ² Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (AACR) (2008). Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008. AIHW cat. no. CAN 32. Canberra, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
  ³ Staples M., et. al. (2006). Non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia: the 2002 national survey and trends since 1985. Medical Journal of Australia 2006; 184: 6-10.
  ⁴ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australasian Association of Cancer Registries (2008). Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008. AIHW cat. no. CAN 32.
  ⁵ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Cancer Australia. Non-melanoma skin cancer: general practice consultations, hospitalisation and mortality. Cat no. CAN 39. September 2008.
  ⁶ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2010). Cancer in Australia: an overview 2010. AIHW cat no. 56.

Thes facts say it all- we are all going to be affected by skin cancer, be it directly or indirectly. This task has made me further reconsider my attitude to sun worship.  While i have always been fairly careful in the sun I now avoid UVA exposure (not sitting in a sunny spot behind glass like i use to), as well as, direct sunlight.

I'm glad we did this task.