Hello. I'm Doctor Clayton Hess, founder of CureRays Radiation Medicine. Let me walk you through this page: Keep Melanoma Away®.

Melanoma is the skin cancer that can kill — and it is also the one you can most often see coming. Found while it is still confined to the skin, 5-year relative survival is essentially 100%.

Here is what you'll find on this page.

Who is at risk. Fair skin that burns easily, light eyes, red or blond hair, and freckling; Sunburns — especially blistering burns in childhood. Intermittent intense exposure matters more than steady low-level sun; Tanning beds. Use before age 35 raises melanoma risk substantially. There is no safe tanning bed.

Finding it early. There is no blood test and no scan.

How it’s diagnosed. Diagnosis requires a biopsy that removes the whole lesion where possible — an excisional biopsy — because the single most important measurement is how deep it goes, and a shave that cuts across the base can make depth impossible to judge.

Here is what you can do next.

Go deeper on melanoma. Read the full plain-language guide, or ask our team where radiation fits in your plan. Look for the button marked Full melanoma guide.

You can always reach our Grass Valley office at 5 3 0. 8 0 2. 6 4 0 0.

This page is informational only. It is not medical advice — please confirm anything here with your care team.

--- PRONUNCIATION KEY (not spoken) ---
melanoma -> mel-uh-NOH-muh
CureRays -> CURE-rays