Melanoma Rates Are on the Rise, New Data Shows

According to disturbing new research, cases of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, are on the rise in the U.S. More Americans are also dying of the disease than they did seven years ago.

The findings come courtesy of a JAMA Dermatology study that analyzed cases of melanoma in 2009 and 2016. The researchers found that one in 54 people will be diagnosed with invasive melanoma (skin cancer that penetrates deeper into the skin and may have spread to other parts of the body), compared with one in 58 in 2009. Scientists also discovered that the lifetime risk of developing in situ melanoma (a form of melanoma in which the top layers of the skin are affected) has increased from one in 78 people in 2009 to one in 58 today.

The overall odds of developing some type of melanoma are incredibly high. Researchers found that one in 28 people will receive a melanoma diagnosis over their lifetime.

According to the American Cancer Society, there will be more than 76,000 new melanoma cases diagnosed in the U.S. in 2016, and more than 10,000 people are expected to die of the disease this year. The risk of melanoma is more than 20 times higher for people with light skin, and having blond hair or skin that freckles or burns easily also raises a person’s risk. However, genetics can also be a factor. Exposure to ultraviolet light, from the sun or tanning beds, is a major risk factor for most melanomas, the American Cancer Society says.

Melanomas can appear anywhere on your body, but they often show up on a person’s back, legs, head, and neck.

Gary Goldenberg, MD, medical director of the dermatology faculty practice at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tells Yahoo Beauty that the numbers are concerning but not surprising. “Despite public health measures and public education regarding sun exposure and dangers of tanning beds, I see patients regularly with sunburns and tans,” he says.

Brian Gastman, MD, plastic surgeon, medical and surgical director of melanoma at Cleveland Clinic, tells Yahoo Beauty that doctors are getting better at picking up melanomas, which may explain the increase in numbers. However, Goldenberg says, incidents of the cancer are increasing, especially in young patients. “This is directly related to the amount of sun exposure patients are still getting,” he says.

While many cancers have pain as a symptom, leading patients to see a doctor and receive a diagnosis, melanoma often doesn’t, Gastman points out. That’s why he says prevention is so important. To lower the odds that you’ll contract melanoma, he says it’s important to be smart about your UV exposure. Goldenberg agrees. “We can’t change our genes, but we can change our behaviors,” he says. “There’s a correlation between melanoma development and the number of sunburns a person has before the age of 18.” Parents can and should protect their children and teens from sunburns and exposure, but sun exposure and burns as an adult also contributes to your melanoma risk, Goldenberg says, which is why it’s important to limit your UV exposure as an adult as well.

It’s also important to have regular visits with your dermatologist for skin checks. “Often we are able to find atypical moles before they progress to melanoma or find melanoma in its earliest stage,” Goldenberg says. And, he notes, that can have a big impact on your overall health: “The earlier these lesions are found, the less chance that they will spread.”

Detection is getting better for melanoma, and Gastman says he expects that the death rates will eventually decline, provided patients and doctors are on top of the disease. “We are looking at it less and less as a deadly disease, despite these numbers,” he says. “There is hope: We are curing people that we’ve never cured before.”

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