A Short Note On Melanoma Malignant Melanoma And Cancer

Many people think that is it possible to achieve a “healthy tan,” but this thought has been proven wrong. Overexpose to UV-A and UV-B rays from the sun lead to premature aging of the skin, as well as the possible formation of skin cancer, know as melanoma. An appearance of a tan is actually a stage of burning and damage to the skin. Although a tan may be desirable to many, the fact remains that more people need to be educated on the dangers of the sun’s harmful rays, and the possible health complications of overexposure.

The largest organ of the human body is your skin. It is your body’s first line of defense against infections, injuries, heat, and sunlight. It also helps in controlling the temperature of your body and getting rid of the excess water and salt by sweating it out. Skin cancer is also known as cancer of the sun. Excessive amounts of ultra violet lights affect your skin in negative ways, possibly leading to Melanoma skin cancer. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer there is and can often times be fatal (McClay).

Unlike other cancers which we can develop, melanoma can often be detected on the skin which allows doctors to treat it at its early stages resulting in less complications and lower death rates to patients, again if left undetected at its early stages this can easily spread to distant areas and distant organs. Once melanoma has spread to other areas of the body which is classified as stage IV it is diagnosed as

Although there are several types of skin cancer, the most aggressive form is melanoma. This cancer of the skin involves mass replication of the pigment producing melanocyte cells, which are located in the epidermis, below the basal layer. There are several factors involved with the onset of melanoma including, exposure to ultraviolet rays, genetic predisposition, numerous nevi (moles), immunosuppression, and environmental exposure to carcinogens.

Mayo Clinic. (2011, April 21). Surgical oncology and melanoma - Mayo Clinic [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4dIlfWUI4

Familial melanoma is a genetic or inherited condition. This means that the risk of having a melanoma can be passed from generation to generation in a family. Ordinarily, each cell has two copies of each gene: one inherited from the mother and one inherited from the father. Familial melanoma follows a dominant inheritance pattern, in which case a mutation happens in only one copy of the gene. As every cell has two copies of each gene, it means that a parent can potentially pass along a copy of his or her normal gene or a copy of the mutated gene. Therefore, a child who has a parent with a mutation has a 50% chance of inheriting that mutation. A related person such as a brother or a parent of the person who has a mutation also has a 50% chance of having the same mutation.

Melanoma being the austere form of skin cancer which can be fatal in most cases. Mayo Clinic’s article on the diseases and conditions of melanoma gives good clarity as to what is actually occurring, and how it forms. The article states that what causes melanoma is unclear and hasn’t been discovered but what takes place is the melanocytes that generate melanin cells is agitated by unknown causes which results in the change in pigmentation of the skin or a change in a current mole already present on the skin. Strategies that can help you detect the symptoms of melanoma consist of the letters “A- E meaning A: asymmetrical shape regarding moles, B: irregular boarders, C: change in color, D: diameter, and E: evolving” (Mayo Clinic Staff 2016) Melanoma can appear not only on the skin but underneath a person’s nail, it can affect their eyesight and rarely their internal organs such as the mouth, urinary tract, and digestive tract called mucosal melanoma. These are noted to be hidden

Carr, B. (2013). Psychological aspects of cancer: A guide to emotional and psychological consequences of cancer, their causes and their management. New York: Springer.

"The rates of skin cancer have expanded consistently since the 1920s uncovers the risk of the American fixation on getting a "solid" tan. Skin tumor is an infection where growth (harmful) cells are found on the external layer of the skin (epidermis). The three sorts of cells found in the epidermis are squamous cells, basal cells, and melanocytes. These cells in time develop to be carcinogenic. Consequently, the three sorts of skin tumors are squamous cell, basal cell, and melanoma. Melanoma is the deadliest and dangerous kind of growth. The quantity of individuals with melanoma has ascended in Scotland from 3.5 in 1979 to 10.6 for each 100,000 in 1998 for men and 7.0 to 13.1 for ladies. (Mill operator 945) Squamous cell and Basal cell skin

Five standard treatments that are being used today include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. Surgery to remove tumors is the primary treatment of all stages of melanoma. Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of

Malignant melanoma of the nail apparatus is extremely rare but there have been a few cases reported. It seems that almost half of the population that has been diagnosed with this disease has been misdiagnosed or did not receive the proper treatment to cure the disease. Since the cases are easily misdiagnosed, fatality is usually the outcome for most. Survival rate of this particular disease in recent studies has shown that humans live on average five years after being diagnosed with melanoma of the nail. The disease can affect either the upper or lower nail extremities. The scientist tested seven people, three males and four females, to see how this disease effects each of the patients.

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer, but what is it, and how does it form? Well, according to the Mayo Clinic, melanoma causes DNA damage to cells which begin to grow out of control and can eventually form a mass of cancerous cells (Mayoclinic.org). Elderly men are at highest risk, but melanoma is the most common cancer in young adults 25 to 29 years old (ASCO). Therefore, all ages are prone to melanoma. Melanoma not only occurs in men, it also occurs in women. The

For the majority of time, the biomedical model has been the main focus on many health factors and diseases, including cancer. Recently, psychologists have been able to prove the psychological and social components of disease. This has forced Doctors, who once relied solely on the biological factors of disease to take a more holistic approach. To help demonstrate the biopsychosocial model of cancer, I will be focusing on breast cancer and it’s risk factors. I will be discussing the effects of race/ethnicity, stress, and genetic factors on the occurrence and recovery of people who suffer from breast cancer.

Thesis: The knowledge of understanding what skin cancer is and what to look for can

Thesis: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States but is highly curable if detected early and treated properly.