May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month

Please join with the AACR to find better ways to prevent and treat skin cancer and melanoma

The skin cancer category includes melanoma, basal cell skin cancer, and squamous cell skin cancer. 

Skin cancer is a very common cancer in the United States. More than 6 million people receive such a diagnosis each year. Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, which are nonmelanoma skin cancers, are the most common types of skin cancer. Nonmelanoma skin cancers rarely spread to other parts of the body. 

Melanoma, however, is an aggressive form of skin cancer. It is more likely to invade nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body than the more common forms of skin cancer.

According to estimates made from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, 104,960 Americans will be diagnosed with melanoma and about 8,430 people will die of the disease in 2025. 

Melanoma is more common in men than women and among individuals of fair complexion. Unusual moles, exposure to natural sunlight or artificial sunlight (such as from tanning beds) over long periods of time, and family history can affect the risk of melanoma.

Melanoma usually occurs in the skin. But it also occurs in mucous membranes, the thin, moist layers of tissue that cover surfaces such as the lips. If melanoma occurs in the eye, it’s called intraocular or ocular melanoma.

One Person’s Story

Jennifer Ficko was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma in 2010, and over the next few years, she was given treatments that her cancer either didn’t respond to or caused severe side effects. A turning point came in 2017 when her oncologist, Dr. Harriet Kluger, recommended she participate in a clinical trial evaluating a novel immunotherapy known as tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy. Now, she is cancer free. Read more about Jennifer’s story in the 2024 AACR Cancer Progress Report.

The latest on melanoma and skin cancer

  • Lifileucel became the first TIL therapy approved for clinical use when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared it for unresectable or metastatic melanoma. Learn more about the decades of research behind this therapy on the official AACR blog, Cancer Research Catalyst.
  • Doctors consider post-surgery immunotherapy the standard of care for advanced melanoma. Now, there’s research indicating that immunotherapy can be very beneficial when given before surgery, causing tumors to disappear in some cases. Read more in Cancer Today magazine: Consider Immunotherapy Before Surgery for Melanoma.
  • Cancer Research Catalyst, the AACR blog, highlights recent research in melanoma: Look Who’s Talking: How Electrical Communication Drives Melanoma.
  • Johnny Borgstrom of Cabin, Oklahoma, received a diagnosis of an aggressive form of melanoma, but he became cancer-free after an investigational treatment with immunotherapeutics known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. Read his story in the AACR’s Cancer Progress Report 2022.

for more information

Please see our page on melanoma and skin cancer for more information on these diseases and their prevention, screening, and treatment.