Does your skin type make you more at risk for skin cancer?

Feb 1, 2021

In 2010, almost 780,000 skin cancers were diagnosed and treated in Australia. 1 Invasive melanomas
make up a very small percentage of these, with the vast majority being nonmelanoma skin cancers in
people aged over 60 years. 2 The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has
created a risk assessment tool which can be used to determine your risk of skin cancer and help
guide how often you require skin checks. 2 Please note these are only guidelines and you should
adhere to skin checks as your doctor recommends for your skin and personal/family history.
Check the table below to see which risk category you fit into.

  1. Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Medicare Online. Available at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/ claims/medicare-online.jsp [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].
  2. Australian, R. (2017). RACGP – Skin checks. [online] Racgp.org.au. Available at: https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2012/july/skin-checks/#1 [Accessed 11 Dec. 2019].