Cancer of the skin (including melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer) is the most common of all cancers. The exact number of basal and squamous cell cancers is not known for certain because they are not reported to cancer registries. This means that the numbers given here are estimates.
More than 2.2 million basal and squamous cell skin cancers are found each year each year. Most of these are basal cell cancers. Squamous cell cancer is less common.
People rarely die of these cancers. It is thought that about 2,000 people die of non-melanoma skin cancer each year in the United States; this rate has been dropping in recent years. Most people who die are older. Other people likely to die of skin cancer are those with immune systems that are not working well (often people who have had organ transplants).
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