Oncology >>>> Melanoma - signs and treatment options

Melanoma - signs and treatment options.

Traditionally, it is believed that we bring skin cancer from sunny resorts. But there is one type of skin cancer that you can get without ever going to sunny beaches. We are talking about melanoma - a malignant formation that looks very much like a mole or age spot, rapidly developing and deadly.

Melanoma very often lies in wait for city dwellers, those of them who do not even think about sunburns, wear clothes that cover their bodies in summer, and do not use solariums. But he likes to be out of the shade or outside during the period of high solar activity.

Undoubtedly, sunlight is good for the health of the body, but not during those hours when the sun is high above the horizon, at its zenith. These are noon hours: from 11.00 (am) to 5.00 (pm). During this period, the skin is especially vulnerable to active sun rays, and cannot provide adequate resistance to carcinogenic processes caused in skin cells. Even the natural barrier photo filter - the pigment melanin - does not help.

Melanoma is an insidious disease. It disguises itself as various pigmented formations on the skin, including the texture of the skin changed by a dermatological disease. But, what is most unpleasant, melanoma can be the result of even a one-time burning of the skin in the sun, for example, in distant childhood. This suggests that it is necessary to sunbathe thoughtfully: in the early morning hours or after five in the evening, when the sun's rays are less active.

But melanoma, in comparison with other cancers, has one advantage - it develops in the visibility zone, is noticeable even at the initial stages to the naked eye, which is an advantage in the early diagnosis and treatment of this malignant skin disease. It should be remembered that melanoma does not have a latent period of development (latent course), which is why this tumor is "good" - it signals itself immediately.

Signs of melanoma:

weeping or bleeding moles;
age spots or any other colored growths on the skin that suddenly appeared out of nowhere;
non-healing or temporarily healing sores on the skin;
painful pigmented formations on the surface of the skin;
renewed growth of age spots or moles.

How is melanoma treated?

The first thing a doctor - a dermatologist or an oncologist - will do is conduct a histological examination of a tissue sample taken from a suspicious focus and confirm or deny the presence of melanoma.

Melanoma treatment is surgical. But, like any cancerous tumor, melanoma is prone to metastasis. Here, new immuno-oncological drugs can come to the rescue, the task of which is to fight cells altered by carcinogenesis.

Treatment options for melanoma are in the spectrum of its development stages, which is why it is so important to notice melanoma in time and start active treatment.

It should be remembered that melanoma is most often detected with a vigilant attitude towards the health of the patient himself. All suspicious new changes in skin color and ulceration should first of all suggest the possible development of melanoma, and play the role of primary visual diagnosis. It is self-diagnosis in the case of melanoma that becomes the salvation from a terrible disease.

Prevention of melanoma is a crucial moment in the life of a person striving to maintain health. In addition to active open sunlight, melanoma can develop due to artificial irradiation with ultraviolet lamps. And tanning lamps are not the only danger.

As statistical studies in European countries have shown, a new dangerous factor has begun to appear more and more often - drying of the decorative nail coating under ultraviolet lamps, the result of which is subungual melanoma. To prevent such a dangerous development of events following a pleasant decoration, it is recommended to dry the decorative nail coating not under ultraviolet, but under LED or gas lamps, they are equipped with modern lamps: LED lamps (light-emitting diodes) and CCFL-lamps (gas). UV nail dryers require lamp replacement every two to three months to create a safe irradiation environment.