Should Your Patients Avoid Sunscreen?
Skin cancer is increasing in the United States. In 2023, there were an estimated 187,000 new cases of melanoma, and the incidence of the disease has nearly doubled over the past 15 years.1,2 Although much of this increase has been attributed to a lower threshold for performing skin biopsies, leading to a marked increase in diagnoses of in situ, rather than invasive, melanoma,3,4 the large number of cases is nonetheless concerning. The rates of other skin cancers are also increasing, with more than 3 million people diagnosed with squamous or basal cell skin cancers each year in the United States.5 All three of these increasing cancer types are strongly associated with exposure to UV radiation from the sun.
