Melanoma is a very serious type of skin cancer derived from skin cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes make a brown pigment called melanin, which gives the skin color. Melanin protects the deeper layers of the skin from the harmful effects of the ultraviolet rays from the sun. When the skin is exposed to the sun, melanocytes make more of the pigment, causing the skin to tan or darken.
Melanoma Incidence
The incidence of melanoma is rising. Skin cancer is the most common malignancy diagnosed in the United States. The most common skin cancer is Basal cell carcinoma and Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common. Although melanoma represents less than 5% of skin cancers, it results in the most deaths. The incidence of melanoma has been increasing over the past forty years.
The lifetime risk for being diagnosed with melanoma in the US is now 1 in 28. That's about one person in every average-sized classroom. Last year, 8790 Americans died as a result of melanoma (i.e., approximately one death every hour).
Melanoma can be curable if caught early, so it’s important to get checked and prevent UV damage with sunscreen and hats and seek shade when it's hot.
Risk Factors for Melanoma
About one in every 10 patients diagnosed with the disease has a family member with a history of melanoma. If your mother, father, siblings or children have had a melanoma, you are in a melanoma-prone family (first-degree relative). People with a first-degree relative with melanoma have a 50 percent greater chance of developing melanoma.
• Family history of melanoma
• Lightly pigmented skin
• Tendency to burn, inability to tan
• Red hair color
• Intense intermittent sun exposure and overall sun exposure
• Tanning bed use
• >100 moles
If you have red hair, your risk of developing melanoma is higher, regardless of how much you stay out of the sun. Inheriting specific variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene that confers red hair, freckles, and pale skin doubles the risk for melanoma, independent of the effect of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to a recent case–control study published in JAMA Dermatology. This means, even areas of skin that never get sun exposure are still at higher risk.
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