Health: Your Tan Could Kill You

Get screened: The American Cancer Society recommends screenings by dermatologists every three years for people 20 to 39, and annually after that. But those with particularly fair skin or a family history may need to be screened earlier and more often.

Be aware: Look for any changes in your skin--particularly asymmetrical moles or spots that change color or size. If a growth or skin lesion doesn't heal within a few weeks, see a doctor.

Know your options: The standard melanoma treatment is excision. In advanced cases, chemotherapy or radiation may be used.

Precancerous growths, and some basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas, can be frozen or scraped off. But if you have several growths, a doctor may prescribe chemotherapeutic cream, or try laser or photodynamic therapies, which can target several lesions in one session. An increasingly popular treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer on the face or neck is Mohs surgery, in which layers of the skin are cut and examined under a microscope until all cancerous tissue has been removed.

Skin cancer is the most common form of the disease, but also one of the most preventable. "I had no idea what kind of damage the sun was doing to me [as a teen]," says Miller, who has since changed baby oil for sunblock. "Back then, we just weren't educated on it." That's an excuse no one can use anymore.

© 2006