Melanoma 101

Melanoma 101: Staging and Risk Factors Knowing the risk factors and how melanoma is staged is vital to understanding this type of cancer. When a physician determines the stage of the cancer, often the staging determines the treatment, and how aggressive or invasive the treatments might be. All the while, the physician will start trying to reduce further risk of developing more melanomas. In this entry I will go over the staging of melanoma and the risk factors. The staging system that is typically used with melanoma is the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) system or known as TNM System. The TNM system is based on three main pieces of information, T meaning tumor, N meaning lymph nodes, and M meaning metastasis. The TNM system relies on those three pieces of information where then a chart assigns a number I-IV, and if applicable a letter. The T category is based on the assessment of the skin lesion or tumor. The depth of the lesion and whether it is ulcerated matters. ...

Melanoma: Classifications of Melanoma Let me be frank, cancer is frightening. It doesn’t take a wise guy to know that. But, often when people hear their physicians’ diagnosis, in fear we shut down and don’t listen to anything else. In this blog entry I will being going a little deeper in melanoma and give some specifics about the classification of melanoma. Melanoma classifications are all based on the characteristics of the lesion, rather than being based on how the cancer has progressed. The most common classification of melanoma is the Superficial Spreading Melanoma, as seventy percent of diagnosed melanoma being of this classification. This melanoma is common in people in their youth and has a wide variation of coloration with tan, brown, black, red, blue or white. As the name may suggest this melanoma typically grows along the top layer of the skin for a while before it gains depth. What may be the deadliest fact about this melanoma is that it can develop anywhere in t...

When a doctor first informed me that I have superficial spreading malignant melanoma, I was shocked. While the dermatologist was trying to reassure me that the cancer was caught very early and not to worry, I was terrified! I    was not even in high school yet and I was having a medical crisis. The fear soon grew into frustration as I was refused to be told what melanoma was and how the cancer/treatment would progress over the long term. In this blog I hope to do what I wished my team of dermatologists would have done back then. With research and facts, I will explain what melanoma is, how it progresses, what the risk factors are, and prevention. My goal is to assist people recently diagnosed and their families to gain clarity. Knowing   the anatomy of skin is essential to understanding what melanoma is and how it forms. Skin can be divided into two distinct layers, the epidermis and dermis. The epidermis, which is the first layer of your skin, is made ...