Melanoma Statistics & Facts

Melanoma has a costly and deadly impact on America: 

The November 2011 Supplement to the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (pages S1-S146) entitled Melanoma surveillance in the United States will provide you with the most current melanoma statistics in the U.S. This supplement was released by the American Academy of Dermatolgy, in conjunction with the CDC, and is the most comprehensive melanoma report in the U.S. to date.

Most Americans are unaware of the seriousness of melanoma.

If not caught early, melanoma is known to be the most deadly of all skin cancers. However, you will learn in the next section that melanoma is not soley isolated to being a cancer of the skin. Melanoma can also occur in the eye, the mucous membranes or even underneath fingernails and toenails.

Cutaneous Melanoma (melanoma of the skin) can often be successfully removed and monitored by regular skin screenings in its early stages. However, the disease is deadly in its most advanced stages as few melanoma treatment options exist. Other types of melanoma, like mucosal melanoma and ocular melanoma tend to be more difficult to diagnose and often give very few warning signs. Typically these types of melanoma are found in later stages, making them very dangerous and difficult to treat. The median lifespan for patients with advanced melanoma is less than one year.

The statistics around melanoma are astounding:

• One-in-50 Americans has a lifetime risk of developing melanoma.
• In 2009 nearly 63,000 were diagnosed with melanoma in the United States, resulting in approximately 8,650 deaths. 
• The projected numbers (according to the National Cancer Institute) for 2012 are even higher with 76,250 diagnosis and 9,180 deaths. 

This means that every eight minutes, someone in the United States will be given a melanoma diagnosis and that every hour someone will die from the disease.   

Melanoma is the fastest growing cancer in the United States and worldwide.

• The American Cancer Society estimates that the risk of developing invasive melanoma in the United States is 1 in 41 and 1 in 61 for men and women, respectfully. This averages out to approximately a 1 in 50 chance of developing melanoma throughout your lifetime. 
• The incidence of people under 30 developing melanoma is increasing faster than any other demographic group, soaring by 50 percent in young women since 1980. 
• Melanoma primarily affects individuals in the prime years of life, is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old. 
• Although melanoma is most common in Caucasians, melanoma can strike men and women of all ages, all races and all skin types. The mean age for diagnosis of melanoma is 50, while for many other cancers it is 65-70 years old. 

View or print the MRF's 'It's a Fact' Sheet on Melanoma

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