Mortality rate from skin cancer

Cancer of the glabrous skin (exclusive of cancer of the superficial mucous membranes, melanoma, sarcoma and other rare skin tumors) is a highly curable disease. However, the mortality rate based on United States Public Health Service statistics for the State of California and an analysis of 35 fatalities occurring in 2,122 cases as observed over a 20-year period in the Visible Tumor Clinic at the University of California, is approximately 1.65 per cent to 1.75 per cent. Skin cancer could theoretically approach a 100 per cent cure rate with two simple rules: Firstly, the patient should seek proper medical advice early for all suspicious growths, moles or warts. Secondly, after an exact diagnosis is made by biopsy, the first treatment given by the physician, whether surgical, chemosurgical, electrosurgical or x-ray, should be complete and adequate, for the first time is the "golden opportunity" for cure.