Is skin cancer hereditary?

Is skin cancer hereditory?

• My nan had skin cancer (she died of an unrelated illness, not of the skin cancer). no one in the rest of the family has had, or is currently suffering from, any type of cancer, but is skin cancer hereditory? also, because my nan had skin cancer, does that mean that the rest of the family are more likely to get other forms of cancer?

• Answer:

  Most skin cancers aren't hereditary, but research programmes have found a few families who do seem to have a higher incidence than normal. If you have a parent who's had squamous cell skin cancer, you have a 2 to 3 times higher than average risk of getting one yourself, and family history is probably also linked to increased risk of basal cell skin cancer. People with fair skin are more susceptible to skin cancers, and skin type runs in families, so people from fair skinned families will be more at risk than people from dark skinned families, but not because they have a cancer gene running in the family. No, a family member having had skin cancer does not mean the rest of your family are more likely to get other cancers. Fewer than 10% of all cancer cases are due to hereditary factors, the rest are random. Just keep an eye on the moles; the signs that a mole may be cancerous are: getting bigger ,changing shape, changing colour or becoming patchy looking, itching or bleeding, and then the mole must be looked at by a specialist.