May is Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month, and Baylor College of Medicine has released a set of practical skin-safety tips to mark the observance. The annual campaign lands each spring, when sun exposure begins to climb across much of the country.

The guidance comes from dermatology experts at Baylor, one of the country's leading academic medical centers. Their advice targets the behaviors that drive most skin-cancer risk: ultraviolet exposure, missed screenings, and everyday habits that patients rarely connect to a future diagnosis.

What can patients do right now?

Baylor's recommendations center on sun protection and skin self-awareness. The campaign encourages people to build sun safety into daily routine rather than treat it as a beach-day afterthought. That means covering exposed skin, seeking shade during peak UV hours, and using sunscreen as one layer of defense among several.

Regular skin checks matter just as much. Dermatologists consistently urge patients to watch their own skin for new or changing lesions and to bring those changes to a clinician promptly. Early detection remains the strongest lever patients control.

The takeaway: sun protection is a year-round habit, not a seasonal one, and noticing a changing mole early can change the outcome.

Why awareness campaigns still matter

Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and awareness months exist because prevention behavior lags far behind what clinicians recommend. Academic centers like Baylor use May to reset public attention on a disease where modifiable risk dominates.

For dermatology practices, the observance also offers a scheduling hook — a natural moment to remind established patients about full-body skin exams and to reach people who have never had one.

In plain words: campaigns like this one work best when they convert a calendar month into booked appointments and changed habits.

Baylor's full set of skin-safety tips is available through the college's news channel, and clinicians can expect the annual observance to return with refreshed guidance each May.