The incidence of malignant melanoma, which often targets young people, is rising faster than that of any other cancer in the United Kingdom. Although much progress has been made in developing new surgical techniques and drugs to fight melanoma, in many patients it can still be a devastatingly aggressive disease. As a plastic surgeon I spend my time in the N.H.S. treating patients with melanoma and soft tissue cancers. I hope that through this page I can also contribute to the valuable research supported by Cancer Research UK in the battle against melanoma skin cancer.