Last year, the Cancer Institute NSW recorded 4351 new cases of melanoma across the state.

Some 522 people died from the cancer in 2011. The latest figures for the Mid-North Coast, from 2008, show 183 men and 103 women were diagnosed with melanoma that year.

The organisation, Australia's first statewide, government-supported cancer-control agency, said tanning units could emit up to six times the levels of UV from the midday sun, which dramatically increased the risk of melanoma.

Hastings Skin Cancer Clinic welcomes the ban on solariums in two years because it was one less way people could damage their skin.

Skin cancer specialist Dr Colin Kay said the move was a reflection of a changed attitude to getting a tan.

“It’s not going to be a rapid mindset change, but this ban and the effective advertising campaigns are starting to change people’s habits,” Dr Kay said.

“We need to change people’s sense of fashion and style.” Better detection technology and a more aware community resulted in the increase of diagnoses in the Hastings, Dr Kay said.

Younger people now had their skin checked, when a few years ago people aged in their 60s and older were the clinic’s main clientele.

Nurse Amanda Stokman is one of only two nurses in Australia to hold a Skin Cancer College of Australia diploma.

Mrs Stokman gained the qualification last year, inspired by her dad Tom Hamilton, who died from squamous cell carcinoma, another form of skin cancer.

“People of all ages should be getting annual, full-body skin checks to pick up cancerous cells before they kill you,” she said.

“You need to get full skin checks between your toes, in your ears, up your nose. All it takes is 15 minutes.”

Mrs Stokman said the solarium ban was a “fantastic” decision.

“There’s nothing healthy about a tan,” she said. “Young girls in particular need to get that idea out of their minds.”