Facts About Skin Cancer
June 30, 2004 -- The following information comes from the American Cancer Society.
Over half of all new cancers are skin cancers.
More than 1 million new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year.*
About 80 percent of the new skin cancer cases will be basal cell carcinoma, 16 percent are squamous cell carcinoma, and 4 percent are melanoma.
Both basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma have a better than 95 percent cure rate if detected and treated early.
An estimated 10,250 people will die of skin cancer this year, 7,910 from melanoma and 2,340 from other skin cancers.*
There will be about 95,880 new cases of melanoma in 2004 - 40,780 in situ (noninvasive) and 55,100 invasive (29,900 men and 25,200 women).* This is a 4 percent increase in new cases of melanoma from 2003. In 2004, at current rates one in 37 Americans have a lifetime risk of developing melanoma and one in 65 Americans have a lifetime risk of developing invasive melanoma.
One person dies of melanoma every hour. In 2004, 7,910 deaths will be attributed to melanoma - 5,050 men and 2,860 women.* Older Caucasian males have the highest mortality rates from melanoma.
The incidence of melanoma more than tripled among Caucasians between 1980 and 2003.
More than 77 percent of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma.
Melanoma is more common than any non-skin cancer among women between 25 and 29 years old.
Invasive melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh most common cancer in women.* **
*Source: American Cancer Society's 2004 Facts & Figures
**Excluding basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which together are the most common cancers in both sexes.
For more information on the effects of sun exposure, go to the American Cancer Society's Web site at www.cancer.org and to the American Academy of Dermatology's Web site at www.aad.org.
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