“According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, the risk of developing melanoma is more than six times higher among young adults than it was 40 years ago,” Manne said in a statement. “Melanoma is the most common malignancy for young adults aged 25 to 29 and the second most common malignancy among persons 15 to 29."
Having a first-degree relative—a parent, sibling or child—with melanoma more than doubles the relative’s own melanoma risk, according to the American Association for Cancer Research.
"Therefore, the population of family members at elevated risk is also growing at an increasing rate,” said Manne.
Manne is also a professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.