Cancers could be hiding in normal-looking skin, study finds

Sun damage isn't always visible to the naked eye and skin cancers may be lurking in normal-looking skin, a new study by the University of Queensland has found.

The study examined the forearms of 37 Australian skin cancer patients who spend a lot of time in the sun.

Some of those taking part had a high number of sun-damaged DNA mutations, despite there being no freckles or blemishes on their skin, lead author and PhD candidate Ho Yi Wong, from the Frazer Institute Dermatology Research Centre said.

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"They had an average of four to five times more mutations in normal-looking skin compared to similar studies overseas," Wong said.

"The higher mutation levels are likely due to Australia having two to four times higher levels of ultraviolet light than the United Kingdom and Europe."

The study also compared one group of Australians diagnosed with many skin cancers to another group of the same age and sex who had experienced few to no skin cancers over the past five years.

"We found a 45 per cent difference between the groups, with a much larger number of mutations on the forearms of those with more skin cancers," Wong said.

Queenslanders have the highest rate of common skin cancers - such as basal and squamous cell carcinomas - in the world.

About two-thirds of Australians will develop a skin cancer at some point in their life.

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Senior author Professor Kiarash Khosrotehrani said the findings could open up new areas of research into treatments to reduce skin mutations.

"The findings … suggest that if we reduce mutation levels in normal looking skin then we could reduce the risk of new skin cancers," Professor Khosrotehrani said.

"We found laser treatments and dermabrasion can 'wipe away' skin mutations and reduce the risk of skin cancer, but this approach is not applicable to everyone.

"Lasers and dermabrasion are difficult and expensive to implement at large scale, which is why other therapies are needed."

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