Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer today with about 1 million new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. The good news is that nearly 90 percent of skin cancers are preventable. If caught early, most are highly curable. For these reasons, it's important to protect yourself from the sun and to check your skin regularly for signs of cancer. Left undetected or untreated, skin cancer can be damaging — even deadly.

Specialists at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center provide care to control and prevent skin cancers as well as design new treatments for high-risk skin malignancies, such as melanoma, basal and squamous cell cancer, and skin lymphomas including mycosis fungoides, a rare form of T-cell lymphoma of the skin.

New diagnostic approaches and treatments include lymph node "mapping" to detect the early occurrence of cancer, melanoma vaccines and electron beam radiation. In addition, we offer surgical consultations, emotional support, educational programs and opportunities to participate in new experimental treatments.

Our Melanoma Center at Mount Zion is a specialty clinic that addresses all stages of melanoma, from diagnosis of the early lesions to therapy for late-stage disease.

Visit our online bookstore to see books written and recommended by the staff of the UCSF Cancer Resource Center.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated January 27, 2010