New York - The bikini could be to blame for a rise in skin cancer, according to a study.
It analysed the impact of changing fashions from the 1920s, when conservative swimwear exposed only around 23 percent of men’s skin and 18 percent of women’s.
That all changed in 1946 when French designer Louis Reard invented the bikini, which quickly became popular in the US and then the rest of the world. It increased skin exposure in women to 80 percent. At the same time, men’s skin exposure also went up to 89 percent as the swimming top was replaced by a bare chest and shorts.
The researchers at New York University’s Langone Medical Centre say: “People also began to enjoy more leisure time. Voices that raised concern about the dangers of UV exposure were largely ignored.”
Actresses such as Bond girl Ursula Andress helped popularise tanning as healthy and “sexy”, but from the 1930s to the 1960s, cancer rates in men and women in the US increased by 69 percent and 18 percent. Skin cancer went up by more than 300 percent in men and 400 percent in women.
The increase has also been blamed as a legacy of the sunshine package holidays that became popular in the 1960s. The study says the rise in skin cancer “occurred in parallel with changes in fashion, travel and leisure”.
Skimpier modern swimsuits also lead to higher risk. With “strapless tops and low-rise bottoms”, women’s skin is 92 percent exposed, but men’s has stayed at 89 percent.
The researchers add that in more recent years the rising use of tanning salons has also fuelled an increase in skin cancer.
Figures from Cancer Research UK show that in Britain more than 13 000 people a year develop malignant melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. - Daily Mail