Melanomas don’t always begin as a mole, although most do. It can also occur on normal skin. That’s why it is very important to do self-skin exams to detect for possible melanomas.

Melanocytes and Skin

Melanocytes and Moles

Melanocytes are the skin cells which produce the skin pigment Melanin. Melanin is the pigment which lends skin its natural color. When skin is exposed to the sun, melanocytes produce more pigment causing the skin to darken.

Sometimes melanocytes and surrounding tissue can form darker noncancerous growths called moles. Moles are very common, and most people have up to 40 moles ranging from pink to tan to dark brown. Moles can be raised or flat,and are generally round or oval and smaller than 1/4 inch in diameter. (Technically a mole is properly called a nevus; the plural is nevi.)

Melanoma occurs when Melanocytes turn malignant.

Diagnosis of Melanoma

If your doctor suspects that a spot on your skin might be melanoma, She will generally take a small tissue sample called a biopsy. This is generally done by numbing up the skin around the mole, and using a small scalpel to remove the suspicious tissue along with a small margin of healthy tissue. The sample is then sent to an expert pathologist who will review the cells under magnification and determine whether the tissue is healthy or malignant. A biopsy is the only way to make a definite diagnosis. During the biopsy the doctor tries to remove all of the suspicious-looking growth so that the diagnostice procedure is also curative.

Staging

If the diagnosis is melanoma, the doctor needs to learn the extent of the disease before planning treatment. The medical team establishes how thick the tumor is, how deeply it has invaded the skin, and whether the malignant cells have spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body.

This process is called Staging, and the melanoma is assigned a stage. The stage of the melanoma will help indicated the course of treatment.

Depending on the apparent stage of the malignancy, the doctor might order removal of nearby lymph nodes (as both a diagnostic and therapeutic measure). If the tumor is thick, may order chest x-rays, blood tests, and scans of the liver, bones, and brain.

Treatment

Options for treatment depend on different factors such as stage of melanoma, location and size, and the individual’s general health. One common treatment is surgical excision. Most people with a early case of melanoma can get it cut out. The surgery is less extensive and results in little scarring.

Other treatments include radiation therapy and lymph node dissection. Radiation therapy will direct high-energy rays at the melanoma, which kills the malignant cells. Lymph node dissection removes most or all of the lymph nodes in the region.

Consult your dermatologist or physician for more information on symptoms and treatment of melanomas.

Read more about the stages of Melanoma and the corresponding treatment regiments here.

The National Cancer Institute has a toll free information line available for patients and their familes. The specialists at the NCI’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER can answer questions about melanoma and can send NCI materials

Otherwise known as unusual moles that may resemble melanoma. People who have 10 or more of these moles have 12 times the risk of developing melanoma. Those who have dysplastic nevi plus a family history of skin cancer have an extremely high risk of melanoma.

The Classic Atypical Syndrome

People with a classic atypical mole syndrome have the following three characteristics:

• 100 or more moles
• One or more moles 8 mm (1/3 inch) or larger in diameter
• One or more moles which are atypical.

Characteristics

Atypical melanocytic nevus – asymmetric, border is irregular, color varies, diameter is greater than 6mm.

SHAPE: often asymmetrical: A line drawn through the middle would not create matching halves.

BORDER: irregular and/or hazy—the mole gradually fades into the surrounding skin.

COLOR: variation and irregularity with subtle, haphazard areas of tan, brown, dark brown, red, blue or black.

DIAMETER: generally larger than 6 mm (1/4 inch), the size of a pencil eraser, but may be smaller.

LOCATION: most commonly on the back, chest, abdomen and extremities; may also occur on normally unexposed areas such as the buttocks, groin or female breasts, as well as on the scalp.

GROWTH: Enlargement of a previously stable mole or appearance of a new mole after ages 35–40 should raise suspicion.

SURFACE: Central portion often is raised, whereas the peripheral portion is usually flat, sometimes with tiny “pebbly” elevations.

APPEARANCE: greatly varied; dysplastic nevi often look different from one another.

NUMBER: From a few to well over 100 dysplastic nevi may be present.

Here’s a quick visual guide from Cancer.Gov:

For more information, please visit and/or call your physician.

Here are some great resources to learn more about Dysplastic Nevi:

SkinCancer.Org

American Association of Dermatology

Cancer.Gov

Nevus.Org