SunSense is proud to announce their official support of Melanoma Institute Australia, the most generous and supportive corporate partnership to date.

SunSense is part of Australian family owned and run company Ego Pharmaceuticals, which has made cutting edge skin care backed by science for over 60 years. Producing well-known brands such as QV Skincare, Aqium and Pinetarsol, Ego Pharmaceuticals has always had a vision of helping people restore and maintain skin health, and this relationship continues in Ego’s work towards this.

Melanoma Institute Australia is a pre-eminent research and treatment facility, dedicated to preventing and curing melanoma through treatment, research and education.  This new partnership with SunSense will support education and awareness of the risks associated with UV exposure, and aims to encourage better sun protection habits and increase sunscreen compliance.

Australians may think they know about melanoma, but they don’t know all the facts. Anyone can get this disease, it does not discriminate, and it’s not gender specific.  “Melanoma is known as Australia’s national cancer and currently we have the 2nd highest incidence of melanoma in the world; a cancer which sadly still kills one Australian every five hours,” said Melanoma Institute Australia CEO Carole Renouf.

Melanoma is the most common cancer in 15–39 year olds and it kills more Australians aged 20–39 than any other cancer.

“Prevention and early detection is key”, says Ms Renouf. “Our new partnership with SunSense sunscreen will help spread the sun-safe message to young families, which is of the utmost importance. Early detection is our best defence.”

Dr Annika Smith, Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists and consultant dermatologist at several private clinics in Sydney agrees. “Sun exposure, without doubt, plays a major role in the development of non-melanoma and melanoma skin cancer. Life-time risk of skin cancer is directly linked to both cumulative and intermittent sun exposure throughout life and intrinsically linked to sun exposure in childhood.”

“Minimising UV exposure is key to minimising skin cancer risk; with appropriate use of sunscreen, broad spectrum SPF 50, appropriate hat wear (broad brimmed), sun protective clothing and eye wear, avoiding UV exposure during the peak periods of the day and seeking shade where possible. The full complement of sun protective armamentarium is required, as a combined approach has the most impact on reducing sun exposure and thereby skin cancer risk.”

The latest development from SunSense in the defence against skin cancer is the reformulation of their SunSense Ultra SPF 50+ and Sport SPF 50+, which have a lighter feel to encourage correct application and reapplication, to provide better protection.