In the year 2008, an estimated 62,480 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed. There were an estimated 7700 melanoma related deaths (4800 male and 2900 female) in 2000 and about 8,420 patients will die of the disease in United States in 2009. While the reported incidence of cutaneous melanoma has been increasing rapidly during the past 25 years, the rate of rise is slowing and the mortality rate is falling in young women, plateauing men and rising in older men and women. There is a 17 fold higher incidence of melanoma in whites than in blacks. The lifetime risk of developing melanoma for someone born in the United States in the year 2000 may be as high as one in 41 for men and one in 61 for women. The outcome of melanoma initially depends on the stage at presentation. It is estimated that 82-85% of melanoma patients presents with localized disease and primary tumors 1 mm or less in thickness, with long-term survival achieved in more than 90% of patients. For patients with melanomas more than 1 mm in thickness, survival rates range from 50% to 90%, while patients with advanced inoperable melanoma have a long-term survival of less than 5%. Unfortunately, despite an improved case fatality rate, the overall mortality from melanoma continues to increase at a rate of 2% annually.