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Carcinoma of the Skin
Skin cancers are related to solar exposure and are relatively common, although their frequency varies with geographic longitude. For example, they occur in 143 individuals per 100,000 in the Southern United States versus only 25 per 100,000 in the Northern United States. Higher rates are found in Australia and New Zealand and the incidence generally is rising rapidly. Basal cell carcinomas of the skin are the most common cancer in humans, and are two to three times more common than squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. For the most part both these types of skin cancers have a good prognosis. The third type of skin cancer, melanoma, is addressed in a separate section. Merkel cell skin cancer is a rare tumor type.
