ROCHESTER — As warmer (albeit stormy) weather brings more Minnesotans outside, there's more focus on avoiding sunburns and preventing skin cancer down the road. It turns out, Minnesotans have a higher rate of being diagnosed with melanoma compared to the United States as a whole. According to the State Cancer Profile database from the National Cancer Institute and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 36 out of every 100,000 Minnesotans are diagnosed with melanoma each year; the country's overall rate is 22.
5 out of every 100,000 per year. Only Utah and Vermont have higher incidence rates than Minnesota. First, what is melanoma? Dr.
Jerry Brewer, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic, said it is cancer that starts in melanocytes, the skin cells that create the colors in our skin. Like the rest of our skin cells, these melanocytes can be damaged by ultraviolet radiation, either from the sun or from tanning beds. "When our melanocytes are exposed to the sun, there's some damage that happens to the DNA of those melanocytes, and our body has a very sophisticated way of targeting those damaged cells and correcting the damage," Brewer said.
Over time, though, Brewer said the body might not be able to keep up with getting rid of those damaged cells. If a damaged melanocyte isn't taken care of properly, it can replicate and start turning into cancer. ADVERTISEMENT What's behind Minnesota's higher-than-average melanoma incidence rate? Are Minnesotans truly developin.