Melanoma Prevention and Screening

Primary and secondary prevention of melanoma are critical to reducing incidence and mortality rates. Primary prevention is focused on reducing the key established modifiable risk factor – exposure to ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from the sun and indoor tanning, which is responsible for the majority of cutaneous melanoma in light-skinned populations. Therapeutic prevention, also termed “chemoprevention,” is a type of primary prevention to avert the development of melanoma at the outset, using safe and tolerable oral or systemic agents, the ideal one(s) which have yet to be defined. Secondary prevention efforts are focused on early detection strategies to detect cutaneous melanoma in its earliest stages, enhancing the likelihood of cure. Screening for melanoma, either by the individual (i.e., skin self-examination) or by the health-care provider, is likely to detect melanoma earlier, though a reduction of melanoma mortality has not yet been observed in most screening efforts worldwide. Technological and molecular advances in bedside melanoma diagnosis may aid screening efforts in the future.