Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. It occurs in more than a million people each year, including many older people. There are three main types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Of the three, melanoma is the most serious. Skin cancer occurs when abnormal cells form and multiply in an uncontrolled way in the epidermis, or abnormal cells from the epidermis invade the dermis of the skin. Basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma are skin cancers that are named for the epidermal cells from which they develop.

What is Skin Cancer?

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer among light skinned individuals. It is the commonest cancer in the United States and in Australia. Each year, about one million people are diagnosed with this cancer. In 85 percent of these cases, the skin damage leading to the cancer occurs before an individual is 18.

Skin Cancer Pathology

Does Aspirin Increase Your Risk of Skin Cancer?

Hair Follicle Tumors

Skin Cancer Symptoms

Skin Cancer Management

Skin Cancer Diagnosis

Understanding the Diversity of Skin Cancers

Skin Cancer Classification

Skin Cancer Prevention

Rare Skin Cancers

Skin Cancer Causes

Latest Skin Cancer News and Research

Generative AI may help scientists connect the many layers of cancer

A Cell Perspective argues that generative AI models could help tackle cancer’s multiscale, multimodal complexity by complementing the Hallmarks of Cancer framework. It proposes that models capable of complex pattern recognition, multimodal fusion, and contextual reasoning could improve cancer detection, biological discovery, and precision oncology, while still requiring rigorous validation and human oversight.

19 Apr 2026

Scientists discover BRCA links to head and neck cancer risks

An international group led by researchers from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Japan have discovered associations between pathogenic variants of the BRCA 1 and 2 genes and four types of cancer. Published in ESMO Open, the findings expand the potential for personalized medicine to several cancer types that currently have limited treatment options and poor prognoses.

17 Apr 2026

New technique can simultaneously treat lung cancer and muscle-wasting condition

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a technique for simultaneously treating lung cancer and a serious muscle-wasting condition that often accompanies it.

6 Apr 2026

Heat-activated patch shows promise for noninvasive melanoma treatment

Melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer that is typically removed surgically. Now, researchers publishing in ACS Nano report they have developed a potential noninvasive treatment for melanoma in the form of a stretchy, heat-activated patch similar to a bandage.

1 Apr 2026

How the nutrient cysteine controls cancer-fighting power of T cells

A research team from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have discovered how the immune system's CD8+ T cells use the nutrient cysteine to control two essential functions that compete for this resource - the immune cell's ability to multiply and its ability to kill cancer cells.

31 Mar 2026

New skin atlas maps over one million cells across the human body

Mount Sinai researchers have published the first organ-wide human skin spatial atlas from across the body.

25 Mar 2026

Topical cream activates immune response to suppress skin cancer growth

A topical cream activated the skin's immune defenses and suppressed tumor growth in two preclinical models of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), one of the most common cancers in the world, according to a study published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

12 Mar 2026

Are socially isolated people more likely to develop cancer? Study of 350,000 adults explores the risk

A large UK Biobank study of more than 350,000 adults found that social isolation, but not loneliness alone, was associated with a modest increase in overall cancer risk during over 11 years of follow-up. The association was stronger in women and appeared partly linked to socioeconomic disadvantage, unhealthy behaviors, and inflammatory processes.

3 Mar 2026

Sunscreen costs vary widely despite identical SPF protection

UCSF researchers calculated the annual cost of using sunscreens and found huge variations, depending on product price and how much skin a person exposes to the sun.

26 Feb 2026

Mental health struggles in first year of cancer care predict worse outcomes

This study reveals a strong association between early mental health disorders in cancer patients and increased all-cause mortality, highlighting care needs.

25 Feb 2026

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center delivers Louisiana’s first TIL therapy for melanoma

Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center at The Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer Center in New Orleans announces a milestone in advanced cancer treatment, as the first institution in Louisiana to provide an adult patient with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapy for advanced melanoma.

23 Feb 2026

Transcription factor HOXD13 drives melanoma growth and immune evasion

A molecule that helps regulate gene activity has also been shown to drive skin cancer growth and tumors' ability to evade attack by the body's immune system, a new study shows.

11 Feb 2026

New nanoparticles enable the removal of melanoma tumors with low-power laser

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed and tested in a mouse model a new type of nanoparticle that enables the removal of melanoma tumors with a low-power laser.

10 Feb 2026

Common human fungus found to worsen melanoma aggressiveness

Cancer is one of the causes responsible for the most deaths worldwide; in 2020, for example, it resulted in ten million deaths. It has been estimated that micro-organism infections caused between 13-18% of these cases.

3 Feb 2026

Treating desmoplastic melanoma with immunotherapy before surgery can shrink or eliminate tumors

New results from a clinical trial co-led by UCLA investigators demonstrate how treating desmoplastic melanoma, a rare and aggressive skin cancer, with immunotherapy before surgery can dramatically shrink or even eliminate tumors, sparing patients from more aggressive surgeries and preserving their quality of life.

29 Jan 2026

Poop pills could help cancer patients respond to immunotherapy while reducing toxic side effects

Fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), can dramatically improve cancer treatment, suggest two groundbreaking studies published in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal.

28 Jan 2026

Pre-surgical medication use grows for pancreatic, gynecologic, and abdominal lining cancers

The second annual report from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) documents a substantial rise in medication treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormone therapy, used before surgery to treat many cancers, often allowing less invasive surgery and helping clinicians assess how a patient's cancer responds to medication to guide the most effective treatment options.

22 Jan 2026

New therapeutic approach converts immune cells inside tumors into anticancer cell therapies

Within tumors in the human body, there are immune cells (macrophages) capable of fighting cancer, but they have been unable to perform their roles properly due to suppression by the tumor.

2 Jan 2026

Indoor tanning loads normal skin with mutations linked to melanoma

Indoor tanning is associated with markedly higher mutation burdens and cancer-driving genetic changes in melanocytes taken from normal-appearing skin, including areas usually protected from sunlight. These molecular alterations provide a biological explanation for the higher odds of melanoma and multiple primary tumors seen in heavy tanning bed users.

15 Dec 2025

Young tanning bed users show accelerated genetic aging in the skin

Tanning bed users are known to have a higher risk of skin cancer, but for the first time researchers have found that young indoor tanners undergo genetic changes that can lead to more mutations in their skin cells than people twice their age.

12 Dec 2025