We got a spiel in Year 8 science - the year I turned 13 - about skin cancers. This included some rather graphic photos documenting some of the results of a melanoma that went untreated until it had infested a fair bit of the underlying bone. As I remember, the picture after surgery had the guy with maybe half a jaw and other bits horrifyingly missing.
Apart from the pictures, we were told basically that ski cancers occurred when sun exposure damaged the cells in some way and things went haywire from there. Wear sunscreen! Cover up! Get spots, freckles, moles that change colour or shape or size or begin to ooze checked out (they failed to mention that stretch marks as you get bigger can change the shape of these things too... So yay for the panic in my head when I saw a pink shiny line slowly appear in the mole on my outer thigh, splitting it in two...) Pictures demonstrating the basic types of skin cancers were displayed. 13 years later I can remember basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and that there was a third type. Of these, melanomas were the fast spreading scary ones, and the other two were more common.
Also: I remember being told off in high school for not wearing my hat when standing such that the upper 75% of me was in shade. Explaining that wearing my hat would not cause me to receive any less sun exposure was met with reiteration of the rule from said teacher.
Apart from the pictures, we were told basically that ski cancers occurred when sun exposure damaged the cells in some way and things went haywire from there. Wear sunscreen! Cover up! Get spots, freckles, moles that change colour or shape or size or begin to ooze checked out (they failed to mention that stretch marks as you get bigger can change the shape of these things too... So yay for the panic in my head when I saw a pink shiny line slowly appear in the mole on my outer thigh, splitting it in two...) Pictures demonstrating the basic types of skin cancers were displayed. 13 years later I can remember basal cell carcinoma, melanoma, and that there was a third type. Of these, melanomas were the fast spreading scary ones, and the other two were more common.
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