We hear it all the time from our friends, colleagues and even parents, “Are you taking your vitamins? A vitamin would really help that.” We get it, vitamins have a good reputation and each one has a laundry list of symptoms and illnesses it can help treat. But do vitamins really help?

Let’s face it — Phoenix is hot. And according to recent studies, Phoenix tops the list of America’s hottest cities with temps averaging between 89 and 99 degrees year-round, which is why it’s so important to keep pets safe from the scorching Arizona sun.

I had my stitches removed this morning. It has been two weeks since I had major surgery for malignant cutaneous desmoplastic melanoma on my upper back/lower neck. Sounds ominous right? It is. The surgery took five hours. The surgeon removed an area about 3 inches in diameter and about an inch deep. The incision is about 8 inches wide. This has been the biggest health challenge of my life.

I had my stitches removed this morning. It has been two weeks since I had major surgery for malignant cutaneous desmoplastic melanoma on my upper back/lower neck. Sounds ominous right? It is. The surgery took five hours. The surgeon removed an area about 3 inches in diameter and about an inch deep. The incision is about 8 inches wide. This has been the biggest health challenge of my life.

I had my stitches removed this morning. It has been two weeks since I had major surgery for malignant cutaneous desmoplastic melanoma on my upper back/lower neck. Sounds ominous right? It is. The surgery took five hours. The surgeon removed an area about 3 inches in diameter and about an inch deep. The incision is about 8 inches wide. This has been the biggest health challenge of my life.

I am very blonde, very fair skinned, blue eyes — my skin burns easily in the sun. During my entire childhood, my mother always applied sunscreen or I would wear long-sleeved shirts, hats, pants, etc., but still, sometimes burns would happen. I grew up in a small farming community where “everyone knows your name,” so I never felt any different than any of my friends. That all changed during my college years.

ATLANTA  — Half of U.S. adults under 30 say they have had a sunburn at least once in the past year, a government survey found — a sign young people aren't heeding the warnings about skin cancer.

Thirteen years after federal regulators last approved a new drug to treat advanced melanoma, the Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to two revolutionary drugs in the past five months to treat the deadliest form of skin cancer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced changes to the labels of over-the-counter sunscreen, changes that could help reduce confusing and misleading information for consumers by summer 2012.

The government has finally given us some guidance on what should be in a good sunscreen, so carefree days of lying out should be ahead of us shortly, right?

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Sifting through 100 gigabytes of data relating to billions of pieces of genetic information, researcher Jinghui Zhang needed a new tool to better pinpoint the relatively small number of mutations that lead to childhood cancer.

With the summer starting to heat up, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) are offering tips to keep people safe from the potential dangers of overexposure.

With the summer starting to heat up, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) are offering tips to keep people safe from the potential dangers of overexposure.

More than half of the 411 people who were screened May 7 at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare were presumptively diagnosed with skin cancer or referred for a biopsy.

A survey released earlier this month shows most people don’t take the time to have their skin examined by a professional for changes that might indicate skin cancer.

Martha Randolph Carr: My personal belief system stands on the foundation that intercessory prayers, or prayers given on behalf of others, work. Western medicine agrees with me.

Former Arizona State football coach Bruce Snyder died Monday following a 10-month bout with cancer.                                                                                                                                             

During his freshman season at Arizona State, Keith Poole received a powerful, painful example of the ideal that defined Bruce Snyder as a coach — and continues to do so as he fights for his life.

Gateway Pointe Elementary School students waiting to get picked up after school are getting some relief from the sun, thanks to a new, free shade installation.

 I have a vision of the future. It looks a little like "Logan's Run," but instead of bio-domes populated by sexy 20-year-olds, I see city-sized active-living communities filled with the graying, arthritic remnants of Generations X and Y. I see wrinkled flesh.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Republican Sen. John McCain said Monday he had had a small patch of skin removed from his face and biopsied as part of a regular checkup with his dermatologist.

When John McCain showed up May 17 as a surprise guest on "Saturday Night Live," he pitched himself this way:

FOUNTAIN HILLS - John McCain, seeking to become the oldest elected first-term president, gets an in-depth skin cancer check every few months because of a medical history his own dermatologist calls "remarkable" for its number of dangerous melanomas.