1 In 5 Americans Will Get This Type of Cancer & The Rates Are Only Increasing

As we kick off summer, we'll be sharing our best advice for achieving Healthy Summer Skin—read all May long. Here’s to a summer of feeling good, living well, and keeping your skin safe under the sun.

We take the skin for granted. Viewed as an accessory or vanity project, it’s rarely given the respect it deserves for the vital functions it performs for the body. Every single day. 

One of the most important and critical roles of the skin is to act as a barrier. It’s a dynamic, living shield that protects us from pollution, pathogens, and UV radiation. Because of this, it’s constantly bombarded with external stressors. And that takes a toll. 

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United states and around the world—and the numbers continue to climb. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer by age 70. In fact, more people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year in the U.S. than all other cancers combined.

While all cancers are serious, melanoma is by far the most deadly. In the past decade, the number of new invasive melanoma cases diagnosed annually increased by almost 47%. And it's estimated that in this year alone, the number of new melanoma cases diagnosed will increase by 10%. 

So skin cancer, including melanoma, is on the rise. A common argument as to why is that we’re simply getting better at it. 

Yes, we’re getting better at awareness and early skin cancer detection, but according to Wu, there’s still an education gap about what skin cancer actually looks like in real life.

The conventional, long-standing advice was to look for the ABCDs of moles. That being to watch out for marks on the skin that were asymmetrical, poorly defined or irregular border, color differences, larger diameter, and evolving. This is still valid advice and a wonderful starting point, but as Wu notes we need to broaden our understanding of what skin cancers can look like. 

“The biggest misconception is that skin cancer always looks dramatic. People expect a scary black mole, but it can also look like a sore that doesn't heal; a pimple that keeps coming back; a rough patch; or a mole that suddenly itches, bleeds, or grows,” she says.

According to a 2026 survey from the American Academy of Dermatology Association, 96% of Americans believe sun protection is important—a sign that the public awareness campaign is working. 

However, habits still lag: 67% of Americans tanned in 2024, up from 54% in 2020. Additionally, 35% were sunburned, up from 25% in 2020, including nearly 50% of Gen Z and millennials.

“I would stop selling sunscreen as a beauty product and tell the truth: daily sunscreen is health infrastructure. You don’t wear a seatbelt because you expect to crash. You wear it because the consequences are high with not wearing one, and it's easy to do,” says Wu. “Sunscreen is not vanity. It’s a daily decision to protect the only organ you can see aging and injuring in real time.”

It’s also important to think of sun care holistically. Sun protection isn’t just sunscreen. In fact, it encompasses a wide range of products and habits.  

“Wear UPF clothing, a wide-brimmed hat, and UV-blocking sunglasses,” says Wu. Using accessories and clothing to your advantage means you don’t have to solely rely on sunscreen for your protection. 

This is one of the most underutilized, but powerful, tools for early detection.

“Do it in good light, with a full-length mirror, a hand mirror, and ideally your phone for photos. Start at the scalp and work down: face, ears, neck, chest, under breasts, arms, palms, fingernails, back, buttocks, genital area, legs, soles, between toes, and toenails” she says. “The goal isn’t to diagnose yourself. The goal is to know your own body well enough to notice when something changes.” 

According to Wu and the Skin Cancer Foundation, aim to do this monthly.

But be sure to think beyond that too. 

Dermatology appointments shouldn’t be thought of as optional or cosmetic—they’re a critical part of preventive health care.

“For most of my patients, once a year is a reasonable cadence. For higher-risk patients (if you've had a personal or family history of skin cancer, many or atypical moles, immunosuppression, tanning-bed history, blistering sunburns, and/or heavy UV exposure) it may need to be every 3-6 months,” says Wu. 

Think of internal support as a way to help your skin better respond to stress—not as a replacement for protection, but as reinforcement.

Antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, polyphenols (found in green tea and cocoa), and carotenoids (like lycopene) have been shown to help neutralize free radicals generated by UV exposure, offering an added layer of photoprotection from within.

Overall, you can't repair sun damage completely. However, there are certain topical products and procedures that can be done to better the visual effects of sun damage, board-certified dermatologist Rebecca Marcus, M.D. previously told us about reversing sun damage. 

"Topical retinoids are useful in repairing photodamage (damage to the skin caused by UV radiation)," Marcus explains. Tretinoin1 specifically has been studied and used for this purpose, in addition to treating other skin conditions like moderate acne and naturally occurring fine lines. 

As far as DNA damage caused by sun exposure, the options are limited. However, some developments have shown promising results, both for in-office treatments and at home.

“If someone has severe sun damage skin and a history of skin cancer, I may suggest something that's a little bit more aggressive at resurfacing, such as a non-ablative fractional laser,” says board-certified dermatologist Shasa Hu, M.D., Cosmetic Director Skin of Color Division at the University of Miami. “Because on this end of spectrum, studies have actually shown just one session of a fractional laser to resurface the skin can reduce a person's skin cancer risk by 50%.”