Wearing sandals and flip-flops can put people at risk of developing skin cancer on their feet, doctors have warned.

Flip-flops linked to skin cancer
Telegraph article

Extracts:

"Specialists say that wearing open-toed footwear can increase the chance of getting lesions as the skin becomes exposed to intense sunlight, a key cause of skin tumours, or melanomas.

Cancer that affects the feet is known as "acral melanoma" and typically occurs on the sole of the foot, between the toes or under the toenails.

Research shows that only half of patients with foot melanomas survive, compared with four out of five people who develop cancer elsewhere on their legs.

One clinic has seen at least two patients with sun-related foot cancer in the past three months.

Anthony Kontos, head of the clinic at the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth, said patients often mistook skin cancer on the feet for bruising."

"Exposure to sun in childhood is the biggest risk factor for melanomas."

"Bob Marley, the reggae singer, died from a melanoma on his foot he believed was a football injury. The singer refused to have his toe amputated for religious reasons and died when the cancer spread."