Melanoma is a cancer that develops in melanocytes, the pigment cells present in the skin. It can be more serious than the other forms of skin cancer because it may spread to other parts of the body (metastasize) and cause serious illness and death. About 50,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in the United States every year.
Because most melanomas occur on the skin where they can be seen, patients themselves are often the first to detect many melanomas. Early detection and diagnosis are crucial. Caught early, most melanomas can be cured with relatively minor surgery.
This article is written from the standpoint of the patient. In other words, instead of describing the disease in exhaustive detail, I will try to help answer the questions: "How do I know if I have melanoma?" and "Should I should be checked for it?"
Treatment for Melanoma
Guideline # 1: Nobody can diagnose him- or herself. If you see a spot that looks as though it is new or changing, show it to a doctor. When it comes to spots on the skin, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Everybody gets spots on their skin. The older we are, the Treatment for Melanoma we have. Some of these are freckles, others are moles, and still others are made up of collections of tissue, such as blood vessels or pigment cells. Most of these spots are benign. That means they are neither cancerous nor on the way to becoming cancerous.
