MELANOMA One person dies of melanoma every hour (every 62 minutes).

utes).2 One in 55 people will be diagnosed with melanoma during their lifetime.14 Melanoma is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common form of cancer for young people 1529 years old.15 The survival rate for patients whose melanoma is detected early, before the tumor has penetrated the skin, is about 99 percent.16 The survival rate falls to 15 percent for those with advanced disease.2 The vast majority of mutations found in melanoma are caused by ultraviolet radiation.12 The incidence of many common cancers is falling, but the incidence of melanoma continues to rise at a rate faster than that of any of the seven most common cancers.17 Between 1992 and 2004, melanoma incidence increased 45 percent, or 3.1 percent annually.18 An estimated 123,590 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed in the US in 2011 53,360 noninvasive (in situ) and 70,230 invasive, with nearly 8,790 resulting in death.19 Melanoma accounts for less than five percent of skin cancer cases,20 but it causes more than 75 percent of skin cancer deaths.21 Survival with melanoma increased from 49 percent (1950 - 1954) to 92 percent (1996 - 2003).22 Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer for males and sixth most common for females.2 Women aged 39 and under have a higher probability of developing melanoma than any other cancer except breast cancer.2 About 65 percent of melanoma cases can be attributed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.23 One or more blistering sunburns in childhood or adolescence more than double a person's chances of developing melanoma later in life.24 A person's risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has had more than five sunburns at any age.25 Survivors of melanoma are about nine times as likely as the general population to develop a new melanoma.26

2. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2010. Link. Accessed January 24, 2011. 12. Pleasance ED, Cheetham RK, Stephens PJ, et al. A comprehensive catalogue of somatic mutations from a human cancer genome. Nature; 2009; 463:191196. 14. National Cancer Institute. SEER Stat Fact Sheets: Melanoma of the Skin. Link. Accessed January 24, 2011. 15. Bleyer A, O'Leary M, Barr R, Ries LAG (eds): Cancer epidemiology in older adolescents and young adults 15 to 29 years of age, including SEER incidence and survival: 1975-2000. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 2006. 16. Huang CL, Halpern AC. Management of the patient with melanoma. In: Rigel DS, Friedman RJ, Dzubow LM, Reintgen DS, Bystryn J-C, Marks R, eds. Cancer of the Skin. New York, NY: Elsevier Saunders; 2005:265-75. 17. Ries LAG, Melbert D, Krapcho M, Stinchcomb DG, Howlader N, Horner MJ, et al. (eds). SEER cancer statistics review, 1945-2005. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; Link. Accessed January 24, 2010. 18. Linos E, Swetter SM, Cockburn MG, Colditz GA, Clarke CA. Increasing burden of melanoma in the United States. J Invest Dermatol 2009 July; 129(7):1666-1674. 19. American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2011. http://www.cancer.org/Research/CancerFactsFigures/CancerFactsFigures/cancer-facts-figures2011 Accessed August 5, 2011. 20. American Cancer Society. Melanoma Skin Cancer Overview. Link. Accessed November 1, 2010. 21. The Burden of Skin Cancer. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Link. Accessed November 1, 2010. 22. Ries LAG, Melbert D, Krapcho M, Mariotto A, Miller BA, Feuer EJ, et al. (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2004. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; Link. Accessed January 24, 2011. 23. Armstrong BK, Kricker A. How much melanoma is caused by sun exposure? Mel Res 1993 December 3(6):395-401. 24. Lew RA, Sober AJ, Cook N, Marvell R, Fitzpatrick TB. Sun exposure habits in patients with cutaneous melanoma: a case study. J Dermatol Surg Onc 1983; 12:981-6. 25. Pfahlberg A, Kolmel KF, Gefeller O. Timing of excessive ultraviolet radiation and melanoma: epidemiology does not support the existence of a critical period of high susceptibility to solar ultraviolet radiation-induced melanoma. Brit J Dermatol March 2001; 144:3:471.

26. Bradford PT, Freedman DM, Goldstein AM, Tucker MA. Increased risk of secondary primary cancers after a diagnosis of melanoma. Arch
Dermatol 2010; 146(3):265-272.

source: http://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts