What is skin cancer? Skin cancer is a condition where abnormal skin cells grow in a disorganized fashion, invade the surrounding tissue and disrupt normal tissue function.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer diagnosed today and occurs more often than all other malignancies combined. More than one million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. About 80% of these new skin cancer cases will be basal cell carcinoma (BCC), 16% will be squamous cell carcinoma, and 4% will be melanoma.
The incidence of skin cancer is rising dramatically in the United States. About 1.3 million cases were diagnosed in 2004, and more than 7,600 deaths from melanoma and 2,200 deaths from nonmelanoma skin cancers occurred. In fact, between 40% and 50% of people in the U.S. over age 65 will develop nonmelanoma skin cancer.
This type of cancer is highly treatable when it is diagnosed in its early stages, and it is usually relatively easy to diagnose.
The two main groups of skin cancer:
