Each year, more than a million Americans develop some form of skin cancer, making it the most common form of cancer in the United States. Dr. Allan Halpern, chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, shared some very important information on skin cancer in honor of May being Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

Health Test Life Calendar

Different Types of Skin Cancer
The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas and are highly curable. These are both considered non-melanoma skin cancers. Melanoma, the third most common skin cancer, is more deadly, and often affects young people.

If you don't catch non-melanoma early, it won't necessary kill you, though it still has to be surgically removed and can leave your skin deformed. If you ignore it, it won't usually spread internally, but you'll need more of your skin removed, causing a bigger deformity.

Early detection is crucial in reducing the likelihood of melanoma spreading internally and potentially killing you. The key determinant of how likely a melanoma is to spread and kill you is how deep it is within your skin when it is detected. It just needs to be 1 millimeter thick (the thickness of a dime) within your skin, for it to have a high likelihood of spreading.

Risk Factors
Family history is a strong risk factor for both. With melanoma, the more moles you have and the bigger and more irregular your moles are, the greater your risk. With non-melanoma, the look of your moles is not relevant. But fair-skinned people who burn rather than tan are at higher risk. High exposure to sun and how much sun damage you have puts you at risk.

Getting Enough Vitamin D
Some say 10 minutes of sun a day is OK, but Dr. Allan Halpern disagrees, especially in 2009, when you can take a supplement -- a better idea for most people, especially women, and even more so for older women. Realistically, how many of us are going to sit out in the sun with an egg timer? Besides, getting enough vitamin D from sun exposure works best for the fairest complexioned individuals in the middle of the day when sunlight is the most likely to cause wrinkles, age spots, and skin cancer. If you have a very dark complexion or live up north, there's no way you're going to get the vitamin D you need from a few minutes of sun exposure.

There's no such thing as a "safe" tan. You don't need to be afraid of the sun, but you should protect yourself from the sun's harmful UV rays. Dr. Allan Halpern recommends wearing appropriate clothing, a hat with a wide brim, and two thin coats of 30 or higher SPF (sun protection factor) sunscreen on the parts of your body that aren't covered. Making sunscreen part of your morning routine can cut down on skin aging and skin cancer risk.

Self-screenings are incredibly important. Common moles come in different colors but are relatively small and even-colored. With atypical moles, just remember your A, B, C, and D's -- Asymmetry, Border, Color variation, and Diameter.

A key warning sign for melanoma is any dark spot that looks different than the rest of your moles in terms of color, shape, or size. While most melanomas occur on parts of the body that get at least occasional sun exposure (arms, legs), melanoma can occur anywhere on your body -- between toes, private parts, scalp, etc. To screen yourself, you need a full-length mirror and a handheld one.

Non-melanoma: Look for pink (not red) spots that don't go away for months or go away but keep coming back in the same spot -- especially in the summertime. Another warning sign is that the spot is easily irritated (i.e. towel drying makes you aware of it); it can occur anywhere on your body, especially the face and is important to catch early because they can be disfiguring.

Dr. Allan Halpern recommends self-screenings once a month, and the average person with a personal or family history of skin cancer, lots of moles, or lots of sun damage should see a dermatologist once a year.

Determining Whether a Patient Has Cancer
During a visit with your dermatologist, the doctor will search your skin from top to bottom for problem spots, sometimes using a dermatoscope -- a magnifying tool. In the uncommon case in which someone has many atypical moles, the dermatologist will monitor the moles using specialized medical photography to create a digital record to check for changes over time.

Latest Advancements in the Diagnosis of Skin Cancer
Memorial Sloan-Kettering is the lead site for a study on a microscope that can noninvasively see into the skin down to the level of the individual cells, which hopefully will eventually reduce the need for actual biopsies. Depending on how much expertise a dermatologist has, he or she might currently be taking out five to 50 benign moles for every one case of melanoma.

Special Thanks
Special thanks to Dr. Allan Halpern, chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, for sharing this very important information on skin cancer. Special thanks to the American Academy of Dermatology for giving members of the studio audience a body mole map and card with additional instructions on how to screen themselves.