Skin cancer screening and melanoma detection: a life saved

Abstract

Rural America spans about two-thirds of the land that composes the United States. There are major health disparities in this population including a lack of screening, a shortage in education, and limited access to health care providers. These health disparities combined with a lack of health insurance led our patient to ignore the asymptomatic melanoma on her right foot for 10 years. Although the most recent update from the US Preventive Service Task Force found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against routine melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer screening, our patient insists that the screening she attended that day saved her life.