CBS Cautious sun worshippers wait till 4 p.m. Although many Americans don't do enough to shield themselves from the sun, health officials warn that protecting your skin against potentially damaging rays can prevent a variety of health problems. More than 1 million Americans will be diagnosed with some form of skin cancer this year.
Someone dies of it every hour.
Most skin cancers are basal cell or squamous cell types, which often appear as pale, wax-like, pearly nodules or red, scaly patches. The deadliest form, melanoma, often starts as a small mole-like growth that grows larger, has ragged or irregular edges, and has mixed shadings of brown or black. Melanoma cases are increasing by 3 percent a year. Caught early, most skin cancer is curable. But melanoma spreads quickly, and even basal and squamous cell cancer can be dramatically disfiguring if the malignancies are allowed to grow large before removal.