Skin Cancer Statistics

Statistics to Encourage Your Loved Ones to Get Checked

• Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States.
• More skin cancers are diagnosed each year than all other cancers combined.
• 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.
• One person dies of melanoma every hour.
• 86% of melanomas can be attributed to exposure to UV radiation from the sun.
• On average, a person’s risk for melanoma doubles if he or she has more than 5 sunburns in their lifetime.
• Regular use of an SPF 15 or higher reduces the risk of melanoma by 50%.
• From ages 15-39, men are 55% more likely to die of melanoma than women in the same age group.
• The majority of people diagnosed with melanoma are white men over the age 55.
• Melanoma rates in the U.S. doubled from 1982 to 2011.

The Dangers of Using Tanning Beds

• More than 419,000 cases of skin cancer are linked to indoor tanning.
  
• More people develop skin cancer because of tanning than those with lung cancer because of smoking.
• Individuals who have ever used tanning beds have a 34% increased risk of developing melanoma compared to those who have never used tanning beds.
• People who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increases their risk for melanoma by 75%.
• Those who have ever tanned indoors have a 69% risk of developing basal cell carcinoma before age 40.

Ethnicity and Skin Cancer

• The estimated 5-year melanoma survival rate for African Americans is only 69%, versus 93% for Caucasians.
• Skin cancer represents approximately 2-4% of all cancers in Asians.
• Skin cancer comprises 1-2% of all cancers in African Americans and Asian Indians
• 26% of Hispanic patients with melanoma aren’t diagnosed until the cancer has progressed to the late stages. This vastly increases their risk of death.