Who Is at Greatest Risk for Skin Cancer?
Although anyone with skin is susceptible to skin cancer, there are certain genetic and lifestyle factors that increase your risk. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), and the Skin Cancer Foundation, the major risk factors are: Fair skin. Light-skinned individuals are more than 20 times more likely than dark-skinned African-Americans to develop skin cancer. The reason is that dark-skinned people have more melanin (skin pigment), which filters out the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. People born with no skin pigment (albinos) are at a particularly high risk unless they take proper precautions to protect their skin. Male gender. Men are twice as likely as women to have basal cell carcinomas and three times as likely to have squamous cell carcinomas, according to the ACS. The disparity, says skin cancer specialist and AAD spokesman Brett Coldiron, M.D., is believed to stem entirely from li
