50 percent of all new skin cancers concentrated in 10 states

More than half of the estimated 60,000 new cases of melanoma projected this year will occur in just 10 states, the Skin Cancer Foundation reports.

Illinois ranks ninth on the list with a more than 2,000 new cases to occur this year. The top three states were: California, Florida and Texas.

The American Cancer Society reported that one in 73 women in Illinois will develop melanoma, while one in 500 will die as a result of the deadliest form of the three common skin cancers.

One in six men will develop melanoma, and one in 278 will die from it.

The society projects 950 new male cases and 740 new female cases have occurred in Illinois in 2006, with 190 men and 110 women dying from the cancer.