Melanoma Facts

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer, a malignancy of the melanocyte, the cell that produces pigment in the skin. Melanoma is most common in people with fair skin, but can occur in people with all skin colors. Most melanomas present as a dark, mole-like spot that spreads and, unlike a mole, has an irregular border. The tendency toward melanoma may be inherited, and the risk increases with overexposure to the sun and sunburn.

Below are facts for the United States:

  • Melanoma is an epidemic: In the United States, incidence rates are rising faster than any other cancer and projected to affect one person in 50 by 2010, currently it affects 1 in 75. In 1935, only one in 1500 was struck by the disease.
  • This year, almost 60,000Americans will be diagnosed and 7,900 will die from the disease.
  • One person dies every hour from melanoma.
  • Melanoma is the 6th most common cancer in men and 7th most common in women.
  • Melanoma is the primary cause of cancer death in women between ages 25-30 and second cause of cancer death only to breast cancer in women ages 30-35.
  • Melanoma is the 6th most common cancer in men and 7th most common in women.
  • Eighty percent of sun damage happens before age 18; however, sunburn and use of tanning salons at any age will promote an early diagnosis of melanoma.
  • Melanoma costs over $495 million dollars to Medicare annually
  • Melanoma happens almost equally in the sexes: in 2003, 29,900 men and 24,300 women were diagnosed with melanoma.
  • The death rate from melanoma for men is almost twice that of women due to late detection. Older Caucasian males have the highest mortality rates from melanoma.
  • Melanoma may be curable if diagnosed early and removed before it develops the capacity to spread. Once the disease has spread to lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate drops to 30 to 40 percent. If the disease has spread to distant organs (liver, bones, brain, etc.), the 5-year survival rate is 12 percent, often taking a patients life within 6 months.
  • There have been no significant advances in medical treatment or survival of melanoma in the past 30 years. Melanoma currently ranks #8 on the NCI Research Funding for Cancer list