Primary prevention programs for skin cancer that are focused on lowering UV exposure appear to be having a positive effect in lowering skin cancer incidence (52). Persons with a prior history of BCC had fewer subsequent BCCs develop if they protected themselves from UV exposure (53).
Reduction in sun exposure by daily use of a sunscreen may reduce risk of SCC (54). A meta-analysis of 11 studies of melanoma risk and sunscreen usage showed only a small protective advantage (55). However, when evaluating only the more recent studies where high-SPF sunscreens were available, there appeared to be a protective effect and other inherent flaws associated with retrospective studies which may be responsible for protection not being noted (Table 3) (70).