[Skin cancer in adults younger than 40 years at the General Hospital of Mexico].

Skin cancer is the most common malignant neoplasm reported worldwide. Over the last 20 years, skin cancer has been recognized in a high proportion among young people not associated with genetic disorders or other diseases. In Mexico there is no epidemiological information about this topic, so we made a retrospective study from 2006 to 2009 in the Dermatology service of the General Hospital of Mexico. We included 730 patients with diagnosis of primary skin cancer; 51 cases occurred in people younger than 40 years with an average age of 38 years, and with an estimated accumulated incidence of 6.8% for the elapsed time. In this study, skin cancer in young people showed a predominance of women (67% of patients); basal cell carcinoma was the most common type. Most of the lesions were found in sun-exposed areas. Skin cancer in people younger than 40 years is increasing dramatically, so we recommend avoiding ultraviolet radiation exposure in childhood and adolescence, and implementing sun-protection campaigns in order to educate this sector of the population and make them more aware of the potential dangers.