Seven important updates for Melanoma Monday

Melanoma Awareness Month is underway.

The campaign unofficially kicks off today with Melanoma Monday, an annual observance held on the first Monday in May to emphasize the importance of skin health, sun safety and skin cancer screenings.

Shelby Moneer

Skin cancer is the most common malignancy in the United States, and melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer.

More than 65,000 cases of melanoma are diagnosed annually in the United States, and more than 9,000 Americans die of the disease each year, according to the CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. At its current pace, melanoma incidence is expected to peak at an estimated 112,000 new cases in 2030, CDC projections show.

Melanoma Awareness Month and Melanoma Monday provide an ideal opportunity to promote the benefits of sun safety and explain how early detection greatly improves prognosis, according to Shelby Moneer, MS, CHES, director of education for the Melanoma Research Foundation.

“Many consider May to be the beginning of summer, so holding Melanoma Awareness Month in May allows the melanoma community — including patients, physicians and organizations like the Melanoma Research Foundation — to flood the national conversation with potentially lifesaving messages about preventing melanoma and recognizing it early,” Moneer told HemOnc Today. “The majority of melanoma is caused by ultraviolet exposure, so if we can educate people about preventing UV damage through easy and quick sun safety practices, we have a chance to reduce melanoma diagnoses and deaths.”

Clinicians also can help promote melanoma awareness, Moneer said.

“Physicians are in a unique position to be able to speak with their patients about any changes they may be noticing, particularly on their skin,” Moneer said. “Speaking to patients about the importance of sun safety and monthly self-skin exams at home could very easily save someone’s life. Health screenings often ask about alcohol, tobacco and drug use history, and the physician community has the opportunity to introduce the important conversation of UV exposure history. Starting the conversation may be all it takes to make a huge difference in reducing melanoma mortalities and diagnoses.”

In observance of Melanoma Monday, HemOnc Today compiled seven updates related to melanoma incidence, prevention and detection.

Risk for melanoma appears to be on the rise in people aged older than 40 years, particularly women. Early detection greatly improves the likelihood of treatment success. So what are the symptoms of melanoma? Read more
Melanoma rates in the United States doubled within 3 decades, according to the CDC’s Vital Signs report. Incidence increased from 11.2 cases per 100,000 people in 1982 to 22.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2011. Read more
Women aged 30 years or younger who tanned indoors were 6 times more likely to develop melanoma than those who did not tan indoors, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology. Read more
Widespread use of indoor tanning — considered a key contributor to skyrocketing melanoma incidence, particularly among women — declined during a recent 3-year period. However, advocates described an urgent need for additional skin cancer prevention and education programs. Read more
The FDA proposed rules regarding the use of sunlamp products. Recommendations included restricting tanning bed use to individuals aged 18 years and older, as well as requiring signatures so consumers acknowledge they have been informed that use of sunlamp products may pose risks to their health. Read more
Melanoma survival has increased to 90% in Germany and some other Western European countries. However, the role public skin cancer screening or awareness campaigns have played in that trend is unclear, and opinions about screening in the United States vary. Read more
Advances in technology may allow individuals to better monitor skin changes on their own. During a presentation at HemOnc Today Melanoma and Cutaneous Malignancies, Suraj S. Venna, MD, medical director at Inova Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center, reviewed data on the efficacy of self-diagnosis of melanoma and skin cancer. He also discussed the potential benefits of and concerns associated with consumer dermoscopy. Watch video