2005 Skin Cancer Fact Sheet
- Nearly 1/2 of all new cancers are skin cancers.
- More than 1 million new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. *
- Approximately 80 percent of the new skin cancer cases will be basal cell carcinoma, 16 percent are squamous cell carcinoma, and 4 percent are melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
- If detected and treated early, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma have a better than 95 percent cure rate.
- An estimated 10.600 people will die from skin cancer this year: - 7,770 from melanoma and 2,820 from other skin cancers. *
- Approximately 33,580 men and 26,00 women (59,580 total) new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in 2005. At current rates, one in 39 Americans has a lifetime risk of developing melanoma and one in 67 Americans has a lifetime risk of developing invasive melanoma.
- One person dies of melanoma every hour. This year, 7,770 deaths will result from melanoma - 4,910 men and 2,860 women. *
- Older Caucasian males have the highest mortality rates from melanoma.
- Between 1980 and 2005, melanoma cases more than tripled among Caucasians.
- More than 75 percent of skin cancer deaths are from melanoma.
- Melanoma is more common than any non-skin cancer among women between 25 and 29 years old.
- Melanoma is the fifth most common cancer in men and the seventh most common cancer in women. * **
*Source: American Cancer Society's 2005 Facts & Figures
**Excluding basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which together are the most common cancers in both sexes.