A message to Mr. Clean, Daddy Warbucks, Dr. Evil, and Howie Mandell: Scalp and neck melanoma were recently found to be twice as deadly as skin cancer on other parts of the body.

A study by University of North Carolina School of Medicine examined of 51,704 patients who diagnosed with skin cancer between 1992 and 2003. Of these patients, 43 percent had melanoma on arms or leg, 34 percent on their trunk, 12 percent on their ears or face, 6 percent on their scalp and/or neck, and 4 percent on other parts of their body. And though only 6 percent of patients had skin lesions on their scalp and/or neck, they accounted for 10 percent of all melanoma death cases.

While being bald certainly doesn't help, it's not only those with sparsely populated pates who are at risk. Even with a reasonably full coif, the sun can still penetrate to the scalp. And, unless you pop your collar like a 19-year-old frat guy, your neck is almost always exposed. Therefore, try to limit your exposure to direct sunlight and be sure to apply and reapply sunscreen throughout the day.

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An experimental cancer treatment has proved successful for one man. The patient had advanced skin cancer which had spread to his lungs and a lymph node. Previously, the cancer hadn't responded to other treatments. So what was this experimental treatment? Well, essentially the patient healed himself.

In the study, patients' t-cells (white blood cells which promote immunity) were harvested and multiplied before being re-administered to the patient. After treatment, the patient went in to complete remission and remained in remission for two years.

Other patients in the study, who received smaller or greater amounts of cloned t-cells, either had no response to the treatment or only a limited response. Doctors aren't yet sure what variable caused this particular patient to respond so favorably. While further research is needed, this limited success gives doctors hope that they are heading in the right direction.

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The other day, I was outside chatting with my neighbor. She pulled up the cuff of her pants to show me a bandage where she had just had a squamous cell carcinoma removed. That's right ... cancer. Even though it was caught very early and the doctor was able to remove all traces of it, it's still shocking to hear that someone you care about had any form of cancer.

My neighbor went on to tell me that she thought it was a spider bite that just wasn't healing. She was self-treating it and didn't think much of it. Her adult daughter expressed concern and brought her mom to the doctor. Thank goodness she did.

It's important for all of us to recognize the signs of skin cancer. May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month -- a good time to learn about the different types of skin cancer. The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. If you have moles, check the shape and size of them regularly.

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May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Are you aware? I am, as I look at my husband's left hand, fresh out of surgery to remove a squamous cell cancer, in all of its stitched and bandaged glory. I am aware when I look at my pale, pale skin and attempt to cover up as much as possible before heading out into the blazing Florida sun. I am aware when I lather my blond-headed little boys with sunscreen, hide in the shade at my neighborhood pool, and think back to all the skin cancer-y spots my grandma was forever having frozen off her her aging body. I've had a few frozen myself. And my sister just last year had two basal cell cancers carved right out of her chest. Her scars are constant reminders of summers spent basking on the beach.

Skin cancer should not be taken lightly, no matter how strongly you believe the disease won't happen to you. Of all the cancers out there, you might think this one is no big deal. You'd be wrong. Just ask Miss Melanoma who lost a toe because a mole on her foot turned up as melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Ask anyone battling the disease and fighting off death. There were an estimated 59,940 new melanoma cases in the U.S. in 2007 and 250,000 cases of squamous cells carcinomas, the second most common type of skin cancer. Basal cell cancer, the most common form, strikes one million people each year.

Skin cancer should alarm you. Because if left undetected, it can kill you. Awareness is key. So do you part this month. And every month. Inform yourself. Your family. Your friends. All the information you need -- how to prevent it, how to detect it, how to treat it -- can be found right here at The Skin Cancer Foundation.

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If you've got a skin lesion larger than six millimeters in diameter, it could be melanoma, says a new study finding that supports the widespread use of diameter guidelines to screen for this deadly cancer.

The "ABCDE" screening method looks at five characteristics of melanoma: asymmetry, border irregularity, color variegation, diameter larger than six millimeters, and changes in a lesion. Some experts caution that looking for only the six-diameter skin spots will cause doctors to miss smaller melanomas. But the researchers involved in this study do not recommend a downward revision of the D criteria at this time.

I say pay attention to each and every one of your skin lesions. Consider the ABCDE components yourself and seek medical attention for anything that seems out of the ordinary, regardless of size, just to be safe. Be sure to see a dermatologist every year for a skin cancer screening. And be safe when you're in the sun by avoiding the rays between 10 am and 4 pm, wearing sun-protective clothing when exposed to sunlight, using sunscreen with a sun protective factor (SPF) of 15 or higher, and avoiding artificial sources of ultraviolet light.

Check out this National Council on Skin Cancer site for more on preserving your skin.

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When it comes to cancer, the general rule is this: If you're under 40, you're risk of developing it is minimal. But there's a certain type of cancer that you're more likely to develop if you're under 35--Malignant melanoma. Yep, skin cancer.

According to this article from the Daily Mail, people under 35 who use tanning beds are 75% more likely to develop skin cancer than everyone else. 75%! Those are some frightening odds. Don't get me wrong -- tanning any time in life is dangerous, but it appears that young skin is more vulnerable to the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. And you know what else? Tanning kills. So if you're still heading to the tanning salon, I just have one question for you: Are you nuts?

Here's a habit you might want to incorporate into your workout routine -- checking your feet. Sound a little odd?

Once your workout is complete and you strip off those shoes and socks, make sure you look at every nook and cranny on those stinky pinkies. This practice might just help you identify suspicious moles that may lead to skin cancer.

Melanoma of the foot is the deadliest type of skin cancer because it's rarely caught early. So look at the top, the bottom, and the sides of your feet. Check your toes, your nail beds -- take off that toenail polish, ladies, and really look -- and then take a peek at your legs.

Did you know the most common site of melanoma for women is the lower extremities? Check out this young woman's blog. Miss Melanoma is her name, and she writes all about life with this deadly cancer. She'll tell you how she lost part of her foot to the disease and how she manages her post-cancer. She'll inspire you to do the right thing. I promise.

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While I've never been a smoker, I do enjoy drinking wine and I love spending time outdoors in the sunshine. I admit that I worry sometimes about the negative effects these habits may have on my health, but I guess I don't worry enough to stop doing either.

I find it pretty scary though to read that cancer charities in the UK are warning smokers, drinkers, sun-worshipers and those who are obese that incidents of deadly lifestyle-related cancers are on the rise. I realize that this news is coming out of a different country, but I also know that alcohol, cigarettes, over-eating and suntanning will have the save effects on me as on anyone in Britain.

The usual suspects like lung cancer and melanoma are named in the piece, but so are womb and mouth cancer, among others. They sound pretty terrifying and agonizing to me. I still stand by the notion that things are alright in moderation but this information makes me think that I may have to change my idea of what moderation is.

Are you concerned about lifestyle cancers?

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We wash it, condition it, style it, sometimes hide it under a hat. We twirl it, lose it, color it, and cut it in all manners of styles and shapes. It's our hair and sometimes it can make or break our day, but did you know it can also tell us a lot about the state of our health?

This article has a lot of interesting facts about hair and what hair health can say about a person. In fact, research about how hair grays has led to some interesting findings about melanoma. When a hair grays, it's because stem cells in the hair follicle die off and cells that color hair get confused and put the pigment in the wrong places. In melanoma, the opposite takes place and these same cells grow out of control. Researchers are looking into ways to create drugs that mimic the dying off that happens with graying hair in hopes that it may "turn off" quickly growing cancer cells.

Read more interesting facts about that hair that lives on the top of your head here.

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Today, a client of mine told me she didn't wear sunblock all the time, because "sunblock is too expensive". I told her then, and I'm telling you now. Sunblock is cheaper than chemotherapy.

In this 'information generation' that we live in, it's still amazing to me that anyone at all would go out in the sun specifically to tan/burn or actually pay to ingest tanning rays in a tanning bed. It just seems weird! We all know that even moderate exposure to UVA and UVB rays can cause skin cancer. And even if one doesn't end up with a fatal case of melanoma, the little scars you could end up with all over your body from having suspicious moles removed is pretty stressful. Wrinkly or splotchy skin follow in the delightful side effects category as well.

But don't get me wrong. I love a bronze body now and then too. I'm just not willing to suffer the consequences of achieving it the old-fashioned way. If you haven't tried sunless tanning lotions or spray tanning booths, give them a shot. Even if you have tried them before and weren't satisfied, go back and try some different varieties. They've come along way since the days when sunless tanning left orange stinky skin. I prefer Mystic Tanning, which allows me to stand in the buff all alone and achieve a completely bronze body with no funny lines. None! No one else has to 'do my back' and the process takes a total of 25 seconds. It's great!

There are many other options though. Sunless tanning products are available in every drug store, grocery store, and upscale department store. Some are cheap, some are expensive, but all of them are well worth the price. Just imagine how much chemotherapy would cost you!

Despite the fact that cancer is the second most common cancer for 20-29 year-olds, young people are still spending their summer afternoons lounging in the sun, working on their tans.

So, with melanoma rates rapidly increasing, health professionals have been desperate to figure out how to convince teens and 20-somethings to take better care of their skin. Fortunately, they may have found the solution, but it doesn't have anything to do with cancer.

Apparently, most young people are more afraid of wrinkles than they are of melanoma.

Subsequently, one professor is using vanity to try keep college kids out of the sun. By showing them photos of people with heavy wrinkling and age spots, and comparing those images to Polaroids of the students' sun-damaged faces (taken with an ultraviolet camera), the professor reveals the places age sports and uneven pigmentation will eventually appear. As you might suspect, most students are "visibly shocked when they see the photos, and it seems to have an immediate impact."

While the dangers of cancer are still the same -- regardless of whether or not people accept them -- if vanity is what it takes to convince people to protect themselves, then I'm all for this approach.

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It looks like drinking tea daily and on a regular basis lowers a person's risk for the two most common forms of skin cancer: squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma. The risk was lowered by as much as 20-30% for regular tea drinkers, and by even more for those who had been in the habit for many years (so my mom, who's had a cup of tea every morning for as long as I can remember, has the right idea!).

What the study did not look at, however, was the connection between drinking tea and the risk for developing the rarest but most deadly form of skin cancer: melanoma. But I think it's safe to say that drinking tea definitely won't hurt your risk of getting melanoma, even if by chance it doesn't help it much either.

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I'm like anybody else -- I think tan just looks better. But I also believe the health risks associated with sun (or even worse: tanning bed) exposure is very real. I don't want to look wrinkled before my time, or get an easily avoided and potentially deadly disease like skin cancer, so I'm always looking for the latest and greatest in self-tanning products.

So naturally when I saw this article I had to take a look, and thankfully it doesn't sound like there's anything to worry about. Now if I can just find a tanner that never EVER streaks...

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Melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, has seen its survival rate increase in the last 25 years according to German researchers.

Melanoma is easy to banish from the body in many cases when caught early; but, the German researchers who stated that melanomas have caused less deaths in the last few decades stated that early detection was not part of the increase in melanoma survival rates.

According to the researchers, variables like tumor thickness, ulceration, age, gender, anatomical site, and period of primary diagnosis were used to independently predict overall survival. The overall good news is that less people are finding that melanoma is a terminal form of cancer.

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