Thursday 28 March 2013, 4:23PM
Media release from Melnet
New Zealand and international experts in melanoma will gather in
Wellington on Friday 5 April for a national melanoma summit.
With the theme 'Connecting melanoma expertise in New Zealand'
Melanoma Summit New Zealand 2013 is an opportunity for those
working in all areas of melanoma control to hear about recent
developments, identify priorities for action and work more closely
to reduce melanoma's incidence and impact.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of melanoma skin cancer in
the world, and over 300 people here die of melanoma each
year.
It is the most commonly registered cancer in men aged 25-44 and the
second most commonly registered cancer in women aged 25-44.
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun is the primary
cause of most melanomas and the risk of developing melanoma is
strongly related to a history of one or more sunburns in childhood
or adolescence.
The National Melanoma Summit is hosted by MelNet - with support
from the Health Promotion Agency and sponsorship from other key
stakeholders, such as the Cancer Society of New Zealand.
The media is welcome to attend the summit. The keynote speakers are
happy to be interviewed during the summit. Please
contact:
• Jane Thompson on 021 883491, jane@cmq.co.nz
beforehand to arrange an interview time, or
• Lynne St.Clair-Chapman, Cancer Society National
Communications Manager, on 5 April, the day of the summit, on 027
444 4150, lynne@cancer.org.nz.
Keynote summit speakers include:
• Professor David Elder, Professor of Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of
Pennsylvania. Professor Elder was recently involved in the
development of international guidelines for lesion classification.
Professor Elder's attendance is sponsored by the Genesis Oncology
Trust.
• Professor John Hawk, Emeritus Professor of
Dermatology at St Thomas Hospital London and President, European
Society for Photo Dermatology. Professor Hawk will address current
trends in incidence and strategies for prevention of malignant
melanoma. Professor Hawk's attendance is sponsored by the Cancer
Society of New Zealand.
• Dr Amanda Oakley, who is President of the New
Zealand Dermatological Society and a specialist dermatologist based
in Hamilton. Dr Oakley created and manages DermNet NZ, a vast
online dermatological resource that receives more than one million
visitors a month.
• Dr Mary-Jane Sneyd, medical epidemiologist and
Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Preventive and Social
Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin. Dr Sneyd has recently
developed a New Zealand-specific prediction model to estimate an
individual's risk of developing melanoma. Dr Sneyd's
attendance is sponsored by the Melanoma Foundation of New
Zealand.
Sponsors of the Melanoma Summit are Roche Products, Cancer Society
of New Zealand, Genesis Oncology Trust, Path Lab, Melanoma
Foundation of New Zealand, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Molecular
and the New Zealand Dermatological Society.
More information about the Summit is available here:
http://www.melanoma.org.nz/MelNet/News/Melanoma-Summit-2013/
That temporary henna tattoo may leave a longer-lasting physical effect than you had hoped for, and it may not be pretty, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.
That’s because an extra ingredient included in the longer-lasting “black henna” tattoos in wide use today — hair dye including p-phenylenediamine, or PPD — can cause nasty allergic reactions in some people, including redness, blisters, oozing lesions, increased sensitivity to sunlight and permanent scarring. Reactions can occur right after a tattoo is applied to the surface of the skin or can appear up to two or three weeks later, the FDA reported.
Henna is a reddish-brown pigment that comes from the flowering plant Lawsonia inermis, which is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. People have used natural henna as a cosmetic and a dye for hair and fabrics for thousands of years. But so-called black henna, often used in tourist destinations and other specialty shops, is a different product and may not include natural henna at all. A key ingredient in the temporary tattoos is dye containing PPD, the same stuff used to color hair, to make the embellishments darker and longer-lasting.
Though the FDA consumer alert dealt with tattoos, PPD also causes allergic reactions elsewhere. A growing number of people, including me, break out in itchy welts when they color their hair with PPD-containing dyes. In my experience, this includes pretty much any product that effectively covers gray, even those advertised as "natural."
A recent study in the Journal of the German Society of Dermatology identified PPD as the culprit in the cases of seven people who developed allergic reactions to hair and eyelash dyeing. All had histories of sensitization to PPD after receiving black henna tattoos. It took about six years post-sensitization for the reaction to the hair dye to appear. The authors of the report added that PPD allergies could “have occupational impact, especially for hair dressers and cosmeticians.”
Some states have regulations overseeing temporary tattoos but others don’t, the FDA update reported. The agency asked people who suffer reactions to temporary tattoos (or other cosmetics) to notify MedWatch or a regional consumer complaint coordinator or to call 1-800-FDA-1088, to report the problem.
The New Zealand Dermatological Society also maintains a Web page about PPD allergies.
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