THE CHALLENGE

Early detection is essential in reducing the impact of skin cancer. DermIA is committed to supporting earlier and more reliable recognition of potentially high-risk lesions.

Why early detection matters

Skin cancer is one of the most prevalent and rapidly increasing oncological diseases globally.
Among these, melanoma is the most aggressive and life-threatening form.

• In Italy, more than 17,000 new melanoma diagnoses were reported in 2024
• Worldwide, melanoma accounts for over 300,000 new cases every year and approximately 60,000 deaths

Despite rising incidence, melanoma is highly curable when detected early.
If identified at its initial stage, the 5-year survival rate exceeds 95%.

However, when diagnosis is delayed and the tumour has metastasised, survival drops dramatically and treatment complexity increases, leading to heavier clinical and economic burdens for both patients and healthcare systems.

A growing healthcare challenge

Timely recognition of skin cancer remains difficult for two main reasons:

1. The vast diversity of skin lesions
   Dermatology encompasses hundreds of benign and malignant conditions, many of which may appear similar to the untrained eye.
2. The increasing number of consultations
   As awareness rises, dermatology services face a growing influx of patients, many of whom present benign lesions while high-risk cases wait longer for an evaluation.

This leads to:

• unnecessary referrals for harmless lesions
• prolonged waiting times for urgent or suspicious cases
• clinical overload for dermatologists
• delayed access to diagnosis and treatment

DermIA’s goal is to support early recognition by helping non-specialists and healthcare systems identify potentially dangerous lesions sooner and more accurately.l need: helping non-specialists and healthcare systems identify high-risk lesions earlier and more reliably.

Our commitment to awareness and prevention

DermIA’s platform dedicates space to public education and early recognition, empowering users with reliable, clinically validated information on how to identify warning signs and when to seek medical evaluation.

Promoting awareness is a central part of DermIA’s mission:
early detection saves lives – and technology can play a key role in achieving it.