Melanoma rates among all Americans have been increasing for the past 30 years, probably due to failure to take sufficient protective measures against ultraviolet ray exposure and to increasing use of tanning booths. Melanoma accounts for fewer than 2 percent of skin cancer cases, but it kills more frequently than the others. In 2014, an estimated 76,100 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed, with about 9,710 deaths, according to the American Cancer Society.
To be clear, melanoma is many times more common in whites (1 in 50) than in African Americans (1 in 1,000) or Hispanics (1 in 200). But the danger for affected people of color is greater: The five-year survival rate for African Americans is 73 percent, compared with 91 percent for Caucasians, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.
That difference is probably due to later diagnosis and treatment: The initial melanoma diagnosis is not made until the disease is at an advanced stage for an estimated 52 percent of non-Hispanic blacks and 26 percent of Hispanics, compared with 6 percent of non-Hispanic white patients, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation, a public education and research organization.
ALM, while rare overall, primarily strikes people of color — African Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics — and it can be lethal. The disease is most often found on the palms, nail beds and soles of the feet. These are areas of the body that have less pigment and receive less exposure to the sun; they also are locations people are most likely to ignore. Reggae musician Bob Marley died in 1981 at age 36 from ALM, initially thought to have been a soccer bruise under his toenail.
Skin Cancer That Primarily Affects Dark Skinned Blacks was originally published on blackdoctor.org
