Victoria
For Victorian men, skin cancer is not just a problem for people who spend all day at the beach. It is a serious health issue that can affect blokes who work outdoors, play sport, spend weekends on the water, work on the land, or simply accumulated years of UV exposure without thinking much about it.
Victorian men carry a significant melanoma burden
In 2023, 1,860 Victorian men were diagnosed with melanoma, compared with 1,320 women. Men therefore accounted for about 58.5% of all melanoma diagnoses in Victoria that year. The melanoma incidence rate was 48 cases per 100,000 Victorian men, compared with 31.7 per 100,000 women.
The problem becomes particularly important as men get older. The median age at melanoma diagnosis in Victorian men was 65, compared with 60 for women.
This means skin cancer isn't something Victorian blokes can simply put down to their younger years. The effects of decades of accumulated UV exposure can continue to show up later in life.
Melanoma can be deadly
Melanoma is the most serious of the common skin cancers because it can spread to other parts of the body.
Across Australia, men experience both a higher incidence and higher mortality from melanoma than women. In 2023, 1,038 Australian men died from melanoma, compared with 489 women. The age standardised melanoma mortality rate was 8.8 deaths per 100,000 men, compared with 3.4 per 100,000 women.
Victoria has seen encouraging progress in melanoma mortality: among Victorian men, the age-standardised mortality rate declined by an average of 4.4% per year between 2011 and 2023. But men are still carrying a substantial share of the disease burden.
And melanoma isn't the whole story
When people hear "skin cancer", they often think only about melanoma. But basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are also extremely common.
Nationally, the latest AIHW analysis found that around 535,000 Australians each year have at least one common non-melanoma skin cancer surgically removed. Men have substantially higher rates of these procedures than women.
Why Victorian men need to take it seriously
For many Victorian blokes, UV exposure is built into everyday life — tradies on the tools, farmers, gardeners, construction workers, emergency workers, athletes, fishermen, golfers, campers and anyone who spends their weekends outdoors.
The AIHW estimates that 95–99% of skin cancers in Australia are caused by sun exposure. Risk is particularly elevated among people who work extensively outdoors and people living in regional and remote areas.
And skin cancer doesn't have to become life threatening to have an impact.
Repeated BCCs and SCCs can mean:
- multiple skin checks and biopsies
- repeated surgical procedures
- scarring and changes to appearance
- time away from work
- treatment costs and other financial pressures
- anxiety about new or changing spots
- ongoing monitoring for future cancers.
For melanoma, the consequences can be considerably more serious, particularly when it is diagnosed at a later stage.
The bloke factor
There is also a practical challenge around men and skin cancer: getting men to actually do something about it.
A suspicious spot might be ignored because it doesn't hurt. A changing mole might be dismissed as "nothing". A sore that doesn't heal might be blamed on getting knocked around at work.
Whether you're a tradie, farmer, veteran, emergency services worker, sportsman, weekend adventurer or just a bloke who has spent years in the Australian sun, your accumulated UV exposure matters.
Check your skin.
Know your spots.
Don't ignore something that changes, grows, bleeds or doesn't heal.
And get suspicious spots checked by a qualified health professional.
Skin cancer isn't just an old bloke's problem. But the longer you've been exposed to the sun, the more important it becomes to take your skin seriously.
For the Fck Men's Skin Cancer project, this is exactly the conversation worth having with Victorian men: stop brushing it off, stop saying "she'll be right", and start looking after your skin.