Cancer - non-melanoma

Skin cancer types more common and less deadly than melanoma are rising in the U.S., leading to an "epidemic" of the malignancy that requires treatment.

The number of Americans treated for non-melanoma skin cancer increased 14.3 percent from 2002 to 2006, according to one study of Medicare. The research estimated there were more than 3.5 million non-melanoma skin cancers in the U.S. in 2006 and about 2.1 million people were treated for the malignancy that year.

Non-melanoma skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S., yet the number of people diagnosed with the disease each year isn’t certain. Even if these skin cancers are less deadly than melanoma, doctors recommend they be treated and removed.

Non-melanoma skin cancer usually starts in cells found at the base of the outer layer of the skin.

The most common kinds are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Melanoma is a more aggressive skin cancer that forms in the cells that produce the skin’s coloring.

Treatment Options:

Non-melanoma skin cancer may be removed by surgery, burning or freezing away the malignant tissue or radiation, depending on how far the growth has spread into the skin.

A large proportion of people who have normal life spans will have one or more of these tumors. And yet there is little advancement in how we treat them and little knowledge of what are optimal and cost-effective treatments.

Sun Exposure:

Skin malignancies are rising as the population of people older than age 50 increases. That age group had substantial sun exposure before good sun-block products became available, raising their risk of developing skin cancer.

Assuming the skin cancer rates grew about 2 percent a year after 1977, then about 1.3 million people developed the disease in 2007 and if the rates grew 3 percent, then about 1.8 million people developed this disease in 2007. And 20% of 70-years-olds have at least 1 non-melanoma tumor.

These findings show the prevalence of skin cancer is about five times higher than that of breast or prostate cancer. 

He cautioned that non-melanoma skin cancer can develop at any age, being more chances in people who have fair skin. 

There is  no age bar to the disease. With heavier sun exposure, the earlier you are going to get it. Sun protection early in life can probably dramatically decrease your skin cancer rates later in life.