Social media is promoting harmful attitudes towards sun exposure | Skin cancer

Rising melanoma rates demand more than another awareness campaign (Editorial, 7 August). As a consultant dermatologist with a special interest in the health impacts of social media, I see how digital platforms are normalising harmful attitudes towards sun exposure, while the sunbed industry thrives.

Social media algorithms reward content that provokes strong reactions. Extreme tanning routines, dramatic before-and-after images and misleading health claims can therefore travel further than balanced medical advice. I have previously raised the alarm about irresponsible sunbed advertising, including claims that sunbeds offer a net health benefit. Such promotion is indefensible: UV radiation from sunbeds is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s cancer agency.

This is also a health-equity issue. Sunbed outlets are more densely concentrated in deprived communities. Although people with lighter skin tones face the greatest skin-cancer risk, no skin tone is immune. This matters increasingly as climate change and warmer weather alter patterns of outdoor behaviour and UV exposure.

The government should place a national skin-cancer prevention strategy at the heart of its national cancer plan. We should combine practical behaviour-change programmes, community-led education and better support for early detection. Australia, Brazil and Iran have banned commercial sunbeds; the UK should follow. It is easy to dismiss their example as relevant only to traditionally hotter countries; in a warming world, that argument no longer holds.

Prevention must begin in childhood. Schools can register with Sun Safe Schools, run by the skin cancer charity Skcin, to embed sun-safe habits early. This should be paired with digital literacy that teaches children to question online health claims, recognise commercial influence and understand how algorithms shape their feeds.

Awareness matters, but we need safer environments, responsible regulation and lasting cultural change to help shape our futures.
Dr Amy Perkins
Consultant dermatologist, Glasgow