A person who has been diagnosed with melanoma needs to be treated by a dermatologist, especially one who specializes in skin cancers.
What Is Melanoma?
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer. It gets its name because it begins in the melanocytes in the skin. These are cells that give skin, hair and eyes their color. Like the other skin cancers, melanoma is nearly 100 percent curable if it’s found early.
What Does Melanoma Look Like?
It is a good idea for people to check their skin regularly and report anything that looks suspicious to their doctor. Moles or growths on the skin are suspicious if they:
- Are asymmetrical. This means that if you cut them in half, the two halves are different.
- Have irregular borders or borders that aren’t well defined.
- Have different colors.
- Are too large. Melanomas can be small, but anything bigger than a pencil eraser needs to be looked at.
- Grow. Melanomas grow noticeably over a short amount of time. They simply don’t look and behave like other moles on the skin.
Melanomas may also bleed and not heal. They may present as a bruise on the skin that never gets better. They can also be painful and itch.
The dermatologist makes a diagnosis of melanoma by taking a skin biopsy. This is the only sure way to know if a patient has a melanoma or not. Like other cancers, melanoma is staged. The stages range from 0, or in situ, which means that the cancer is only on the top layer of the skin. In stage IV, the cancer has spread to distant organs and lymph nodes. To stage a melanoma, the dermatologist may also biopsy lymph nodes close to the lesion.
Melanoma Treatment
Dermatologists treat melanomas in various ways depending on the stage. Often, the melanoma is excised, or cut out along with a margin of healthy skin. This can be done in the doctor’s office.
The dermatologist may also perform Mohs surgery. The dermatologist needs to be specially trained in this surgery, which removes the cancer one layer at a time. The layers are examined under a microscope and removed until no more cancer is found.
If the cancer has spread, more aggressive treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy are used.
Contact OC Skin Institute
Residents in the Orange County, CA area who believe they may have melanoma or another skin cancer should get in touch with us at the OC Skin Institute for a consultation.