Skin Cancer Prevention

At the NCI-designated Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, we’re focused on preventing skin cancer from ever starting and catching it as early as possible, when treatment is easiest and most effective.

Prevention is one of the many goals of our skin cancer team. This highly specialized multidisciplinary team uses state-of-the-art tools to diagnose skin cancer in its earliest stages.

Regular skin cancer checks are important for everyone. There are two types of skin cancer screenings: screening by a doctor and skin self-exams. Talk to your provider about your risk for skin cancer and to understand what screening type would be right for you.

You can take many steps to lower your chances of getting skin cancer. These include understanding your family health history, reducing your risk of repeated sunburns, minimizing sun exposure, wearing clothing that covers your arms and legs, and using broad spectrum sunscreen. It’s also important to identify cancer in its earliest stage—getting  skin cancer screenings can help.

If you have a family history of risk factors, particularly for melanoma, our Genetics Program offers genetic testing to determine if you have a gene mutation or change that gives you an increased risk for developing melanoma. These mutations pass down through the family tree from generation to generation.

For more than 50 years, Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center has been a leader in the research, diagnosis and treatment of over 200 types of cancer. Turn to us for expert cancer screening and prevention.