"But he went anyway, figuring the doctor could take a look at a few asymmetrical spots on his back. She biopsied those. But the one on his face, the one he hadn't even thought to worry about, was a basal-cell carcinoma."

""When I got the call I had cancer, it floored me," says Mr. Ramsey, a corporate headhunter who works in Addison. "I was just shocked. I didn't understand what it meant.""

"Mr. Ramsey thought his age, his indoor job and his lifestyle ? he doesn't play golf or spend much time outdoors ? were talismans against skin cancer. Plus, though he's not dark-skinned, he is of American Indian descent."

"Yet anyone can develop skin cancer, says Dr. Erin M. Welch, assistant professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center."

""Skin cancer used to be an old person's disease after a lifetime of sun exposure," she says. "Now, you see it in people in their 30s and 40s.""

""The best we can figure, the only time in my life when I was repeatedly sunburned is when I was a preteen," he says. "Apparently, that's all it takes.""

"Growing up in Virginia, spending summer days at the beach, neither he nor anyone else had a clue what they were doing to their skin. Mr. Ramsey wore zinc oxide across the bridge of his nose for protection. When it washed off in the ocean, he'd keep playing."

""My mother's horrified," he says. "She's like, 'I'm a bad mother!' But nobody knew anything like this would happen.""

"Mr. Ramsey underwent a procedure called Mohs surgery. He received local anesthesia, and the surgeon cut 2 millimeters around the visible cancer area and tested that. Had it spread, she would have continued cutting until no more cancer was found."

""I was extremely lucky in that they got it all in the first cutting," he says. "We were very, very fortunate, and I feel very blessed.""

" They spend more time in the sun than women yet are less likely to use sunscreen."

" In a study of marathon runners conducted by the Medical University of Graz in Austria, those who ran between 25 and 40 miles a week had a 50.5 percent chance of having at least one atypical mole. For those who ran less than 25 miles, the incidence was 41 percent."

" They're exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays; they neglect sunscreen; they have more skin exposed than most people. Plus, high-intensity exercise can compromise their immune systems, leaving them more vulnerable to skin damage."

" People who don't sunburn tend not to think they're at risk for skin cancer and thus aren't as vigilant about checking for it."

" Ninety percent of melanomas in black people are located below the ankle. Singer Bob Marley died of a melanoma that began on the little toe of one foot."

""Caucasians tend to get 90 percent of their melanomas on chronically sun-exposed skin," Dr. Welch explains. "However, because darker skin does seem to offer some protection, African-Americans only get about 33 percent of theirs on sun-exposed areas. The rest of their melanomas seem to be the types for which sun exposure plays a less important role: the soles of the feet, in the nailbeds under the nails, the mucous membranes of the mouth.""

" "In some ways, a tanning bed is worse than the sun because it's comprised primarily of UVA rays," says Dr. Mary Hurley, a dermatologist with North Dallas Dermatology Associates. "Studies show that UVA wavelength is linked to melanoma.""

"Reach into your wallet and take out a credit card. Feel its thickness. Then hear how Dallas dermatologist Mary Hurley uses it to talk about the dangers of skin cancer."

""The difference between life and death can be the thickness of a credit card," says Dr. Hurley, who is on the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. "The chance of fatality depends on how deep the melanoma is. If it's thicker, it could be a death sentence just by a millimeter or two.""

"Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer. Every year, 1 million Americans will contract a non-melanoma form of the disease. One in 75 Americans will develop melanoma; just about everyone will get a pre-cancerous growth at some point, she says."

""Skin is like a car's odometer. You can't turn it back. Patients will say, 'I haven't been in the sun for 10 years!' But it's caused by the sun before that.""

"Skin cancer can appear anywhere, she says, "on the sole of your foot or on the scalp.""

"There's no telling who will get skin cancer, but it appears to be determined by some of these characteristics:"

""Every little bit of sun you get is contributing to your risk of skin cancer," says Dr. Erin M. Welch, assistant professor of dermatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center."

"Here's
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