Melanoma is a black death

Melanoma is one of the most malignant tumors - both skin and in general. It is known that skin melanoma can appear at absolutely any age. Melanoma develops from pigment cells - "melanocytes" - both healthy and normal skin, and so-called "pigment nevuses", in other words - birthmarks. It should be noted that melanoma develops very quickly and can affect not only the skin, but even spread deeper, to other organs and bones.

It is necessary to distinguish in advance the concepts of melanoma and skin cancer. So, melanoma occurs about ten times less often than skin cancer, and is about one percent of the total number of malignant tumors. Recently, the incidence of melanoma increases, and in men it occurs less frequently than in women. It should be noted that the incidence of melanoma significantly increases at the age of 30-39 years, after which a slow, gradual increase in the incidence of the tumor is observed up to the advanced age .

The cause of melanoma is often nevuses, especially those located in the area of the shoulder, on the back, on the feet or on the exposed parts of the body. Unlike skin cancer, melanoma is not localized primarily on the face. The most dangerous are the so-called border nevi. Melanoma looks like a clearly defined nodule of dark gray, dark brown or even black with a smooth, dry surface. Nodules of melanoma are usually flat or even slightly convex, while they are painless.

The degeneration of pigmented nevuses in melanoma is associated with injuries, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, as well as with the effects of hormonal changes in the body. There are certain assumptions about the fact that the last two factors can have a certain effect on the occurrence of melanoma on unchanged skin. The role of injuries does not cause any doubts, as doctors say. Approximately in 2 out of 5 melanoma patients, the symptoms of malignancy begin to appear soon after a trauma to the pigment nevus. In southern countries, a high incidence of melanoma is associated with insolation. It is also assumed that endocrine processes play a role in the development of melanoma, in favor of which the fact that melanoma rarely appears before puberty, but in the period of puberty, pregnancy and menopause, in some cases even accelerates the growth of the tumor. However, it is noted that in some cases, a change in the patient's hormonal status leads both to inhibition and, in some cases, to a decrease in the tumor.

Symptoms of melanoma, or, in other words, nevus degeneration in melanoma are the following: an increase in the size of the nevus, its compaction, bleeding from the nevus, the appearance of cracks on its surface, as well as redness, itching, burning and enlarged lymph nodes. It should be noted that melanoma grows in three directions: above the skin, over the skin and deep into the skin, successively growing dermis layers and underlying tissues.

Melanoma is dangerous by early metastasis. Most often, metastases of melanoma affect the regional lymph nodes, however, metastasises often occur in the skin in the form of multiple small rashes of brown or black. In addition, melanoma metastases most often affect the liver, brain, lungs and adrenal glands.

In connection with all of the above, it becomes clear why the diagnosis of melanoma of the skin should be carried out especially carefully, taking into account all the symptoms and possible risk factors. During the diagnosis, all pigmented spots and moles, which can have anything to do with skin cancer, must be scrupulously examined. In addition, the condition of the lymph nodes in the inguinal and axillary regions, as well as on the neck and, especially, near the suspicious focus, should be carefully studied, which is explained by the probability of destruction of their malignant tumor. Skin biopsy is also an important method, which can be used to detect melanoma, but it is very important to take into account the active metastasis of melanoma and not to play with fire once again, since melanoma treatment is not such a simple and easy process.