Skin Cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States and accounts for one-third of the melanomas in the world.  Melanomas, which cause the most deaths from skin cancer, is increasing more rapidly than other forms of cancer.  One person in seven will develop skin cancer in his or her lifetime and people who are fair skinned face twice the risk of developing skin cancer.   Statistics also show that if a person had three or more sunburn blisters before the age of 20, they are five times more likely to develop skin cancer than those who did not receive a blistering sunburn.  The potential for skin cancer is doubled if there was a severely-blistered sunburn in childhood or adolescence.

The entire skin surface should be check once a month for changes that could indicate skin cancer.  If detected early, the cure rate for skin cancer ranges from 85 to 99 percent.  

Sunscreen with a rating of 15 or greater should be applied to all exposed skin every two hours even on cloudy days.  Avoid midday sun, which has the greatest potential for sun damage to the skin, whenever possible.