Your Health Skin Cancer Camera Melanoma Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that forms in melanocytes, the pigmented cells that give skin its color. The American Cancer Society estimates 47,700 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year. About 7700 people will die from it.
Research shows rates of melanoma are rising faster than any other type of cancer.
Since 1973, the number of cases has doubled. This year, the lifetime risk of a white person developing melanoma is expected to be one in 75. The lifetime risk of melanoma for someone with these moles is six to ten percent. A person with one or more of the moles and two close relatives with melanoma has a 50 percent or greater risk of developing the cancer. Even without any dysplastic nevi, family history increases the risk of melanoma by up to eight times.