It's rapidly climbing the charts, but this is one list you don't ever want to top: malignant melanoma. The most serious form of skin cancer is moving up through the ranks of the most common forms of cancer in the U.S., moving from the No. 6 slot in 1997, to a projected No. 1 by the year 2022, researchers predict.
I have tried to find other similar articles and reports and can't. But I haven't found anything refuting this either. We know melanoma is seriously on the rise. These are the CURRENT statistics from the Melanoma Research Foundation:
- The American Cancer Society estimates that the risk of developing invasive melanoma in the United States is 1 in 41 and 1 in 61 for men and women, respectfully. This averages out to approximately a 1 in 50 chance of developing melanoma throughout your lifetime.
- The incidence of people under 30 developing melanoma is increasing faster than any other demographic group, soaring by 50 percent in young women since 1980.
- Melanoma primarily affects individuals in the prime years of life, is the most common form of cancer for young adults 25-29 years old and the second most common cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old.
Melanoma is NOT just skin cancer. You cannot just cut it out and be done with it. That tan is NOT healthy. At best it's the sign of damaged skin. At worst it's killer. Literally. No tan, however it's gotten, is worth it. No feel good time under the heat is worth it.
I cannot explain why that 2022 stat isn't shouted from the rooftops. It's largely ignored. But those 10 years will pass all too quickly. Time has a way of doing that.
My prayer is we reverse that stat and the melanoma trend stops.
That's the prayer of all of us who are already in the melanoma community.
Stop the madness. Stop the tanning. Stop the needless suffering and death.
Make us ALL grateful. Yourself first and foremost!
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Thank you.