Watch Your Skin

Posted: March 1, 2005

Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer. It begins in melanocytes — cells that make the skin pigment called melanin.

Although melanoma accounts for only about 4 percent of all skin cancer cases, it causes most skin cancer-related deaths. The good news is that melanoma is often curable if it is detected and treated in its early stages.

In men, melanoma is often found on the trunk (the area from the shoulders to the hips) or the head and neck.

In women, melanoma often develops on the arms and legs.

Melanoma usually occurs in adults, but it is sometimes found in children and adolescents.

Risk factors include the following:

• Unusual moles
• Exposure to natural sunlight
• Exposure to artificial ultraviolet light (tanning booth)
• Family or personal history of melanoma
• Being Caucasian and older than 20 years
• Red or blond hair
• White or light-colored skin and freckles
• Blue eyes

Possible signs of melanoma include a change in the appearance of a mole or pigmented area.
These and other symptoms may be caused by melanoma or by other conditions. A doctor should be consulted if you notice a mole that:

• Changes in size, shape, or color
• Has irregular edges or borders
• Is more than one color
• Is asymmetrical (if the mole is divided in half, the 2 halves are different in size or shape)
• Itches
• Oozes, bleeds, or is ulcerated (a hole forms in the skin when the top layer of cells breaks down and the underlying tissue shows through)
• Changes in pigmented (colored) skin
• Develops satellite moles (new moles that grow near an existing mole)

Tests that examine the skin are used to find and diagnose melanoma:

• Skin examination: A doctor or nurse examines the skin to look for moles, birthmarks or other pigmented areas that look abnormal in color, size, shape or texture.
• Biopsy: A local excision is done to remove as much of the suspicious mole or lesion as possible. A pathologist then looks at the tissue under a microscope to check for cancer cells. Because melanoma can be hard to diagnose, patients should consider having their biopsy sample checked by a second pathologist.

Source: National Cancer Institute

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