Skin Cancer Statistics & Facts

Skin Cancer Statistics

Statistics relating to skin cancer break themselves down into two major categories. Statistics that indicate the incidence of skin cancer in general and those that compare the effects of melanomic cancer in relation to basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.

The general statistics regarding skin cancer run as follows:

The most common of all cancers in the United States is skin cancer with more than one million cases being diagnosed each year.
Skin damage from overexposure to the sun's rays begins at an early age. Despite that fact, most skin cancers appear after the age of 50.
Basal cell as well as squamous cell carcinomas have a 95% cure rate when they are detected and treated early.
Second on the list of prolific forms of skin cancer is squamous cells skin cancer. Over 250,000 cases are being diagnosed every year, resulting in ca. 2,500 deaths yearly.
One in five people and among them one in three Caucasians in the course of their lifetime will develop some form of skin cancer.
Sun exposure causes more than ninety percent of all skin cancers
If a person has suffered from sunburn five or more times then they stand a very strong chance of contracting skin cancer.
The percentage of women under the age of forty with basal cell carcinoma has tripled in the last thirty years, while their rate of squamous cell cancer has increased four-fold.

Statistics relating to the melanomic form of skin cancer are as follows:

Nearly 15 percent of the total number of melanomas diagnosed has proved to result in death.
Melanoma represents 75 percent of all skin cancer deaths, out of a total of only four percent of all skin cancers diagnosed.
One in 25 males and one in 38 females will develop melanoma of skin by the age of 75.
Melanoma is the most common cancer found in men between the ages 15 to 19
Melanoma is the most common cancer found in men between the ages 25to 54
Melanoma is the most common cancer found in women between the ages 15 to 34.
Melanoma is the second most common cancer found in women between the ages 35 to 54.
Melanoma of the skin ranked overall third in incidence and ninth in mortality (death rates) for males.
Melanoma of the skin ranked overall third in females for incidence and thirteenth in mortality (death rates) for females.
Men are 1.5 times more likely to develop melanoma of the skin than women and 2.9 times more likely to die from it.
Melanoma incidence rates are 20 times higher for Caucasians than for African-Americans.
Melanoma is more common than any non-skin cancer among women between 25 and 29 years old.
Survival rate for patients with early detection is about 99%. The survival rate falls to between 15 and 65% or higher, depending on how far the disease has spread.

When analyzing these statistics, we can reach the conclusion that skin cancer if captured early enough can be treated.

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