FAQs
- How common is skin cancer? Currently, between two and three million skin cancers occur globally each year. One in every three cancers diagnosed is a skin cancer, according to the World Health Organization. In addition, the Skin Cancer Foundation estimates that one in every five Americans will develop skin cancer during their lifetime.
- What are the different types of skin cancer? There are three different types of skin cancer depending upon the type of skin cell from which they arise. The three are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. Basal cell is the most common form of skin cancer. It grow very slowly and rarely spreads. It accounts for about 90 percent of all skin cancers in the U.S. Squamous cell is more serious because it does spread to vital organs inside the body. Malignant melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer because it spreads very quickly to organs inside the body through lymph nodes or blood.
- How often do people die from skin cancer? In the U.S., it’s estimated that someone dies from skin cancer every 61 minutes.
- What causes skin cancer? Generally, risk factors for skin cancer include skin type, family history and UV exposure. Other risk factors include exposure to arsenic, radiation burns, chronic skin inflammation or ulcers, and immunosuppressive drugs such as those prescribed after an organ transplant and having actinic keratosis (often called sun or aging spots which can be precancerous). Having a risk factor does not mean you will get skin cancer; and, not having a risk factor does not mean you are immune to it.
- How do I protect against skin cancer? The best protection against skin cancer is avoid unprotected sun exposure by following the steps outlined in SunAWARE.
- Can sunscreen alone protect against skin cancer? This is a common misunderstanding. It’s now generally recognized that sun protection clothing is the first line of defense against unprotected sun exposure with sun screen being used on unprotected areas of the body.
