Skin Cancer Detection

KYW's Medical Reports Sponsored By Independence Blue Cross

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Malignant melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and despite public education and screening, the incidence of melanoma continued to rise over the past seven years.

Researchers writing in JAMA Dermatology are concerned about this.

There is good news: studies have suggested we are identifying malignant melanoma earlier, but we are not decreasing the incidence of melanoma spread as much as we would like.

Scientists who make a living looking at numbers like this think that we might be reading the data incorrectly -- or just have incomplete data.

They say that we are much better at detecting malignant melanoma early than we have been in the past and are still not seeing the full advantage of this early detection.

Many of the cases are occuring in people who have not been screened. What this really emphasizes is the need to check sucpicious moles on a regular basis