Skin Cancer Facts: Education Can Save Your Life
Did You Know?
- One in every five individuals in America will get skin cancer by the time they reach the age of 70.
- Every hour more than two people in the US die of skin cancer.
- If you have had five or more sunburns, your risk for melanoma doubles.
- The five-year survival rate for melanoma, if it is detected early, is 99 percent.
- Skin cancer is the most common cancer around the world and in the United States.
We don’t hear people talk much about skin cancer. Yet, 20% of the American population will have it during their lifetime. May is skin cancer awareness month, the purpose of which is to focus attention on this disease- how to detect it and how to prevent it. Unlike many other forms of cancer, skin cancer can be highly treatable. The keys are to catch it early and protect your skin as much as possible.
The Skin Cancer Foundation Shares Important Facts
The Skin Cancer Foundation in its effort to educate the public about skin cancer, offers these additional facts. The information will hopefully encourage you to make regular appointments with a dermatologist, conduct self-exams, and protect your skin from unnecessary exposure to the elements.
- Every day in the US nearly 10,000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer
- Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the single most common form of skin cancer. Estimates show that over 4 million people in the US are diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma every year.
- Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common form, with over 1 million people in the US diagnosed annually.
- Perhaps surprisingly, figures suggest that more than 15,000 people in the US die of squamous cell carcinoma each year. This number is more than twice the number that dies from melanoma.
- Estimates show that the number of new melanoma diagnoses in the US will increase by nearly 2 percent in 2020.
- Between 2000 and 2013, the number of Merkel cell carcinoma diagnoses, a rare and aggressive skin cancer, grew by 95 percent.
- Ninety percent of non-melanoma skin cancers and 86 percent of melanoma skin cancers are associated with or attributed to exposure to UV radiation from the sun.
- Daily use of sunscreen with SPF 15 can reduce melanoma risk by 50 percent.
Why Do These Facts Matter?
Why are these facts important? Because the more information you know, the better you can take steps to protect you and your family from this very preventable form of cancer. Skin cancer is mostly preventable. It is also highly curable. The key to surviving skin cancer is knowledge and diligence. Using sunscreen, doing self-exams, protecting yourself from UV rays, and visiting the dermatologist can all help prevent skin cancer from taking your life.
Find Gifts Specially Selected to Help People Getting Treated for Cancer
At Rock the Treatment, we make it easy to let someone with cancer know you care and support them on their difficult journey. If someone you love has skin cancer or any other type of cancer, send a helpful cancer gift basket from Rock The Treatment. Chemotherapy and radiation gift baskets are packed with the essentials needed to ease side effects of treatment, as well as enhance physical and mental well-being. See all of our cancer care packages and find the one that best supports their journey.
