Being ambushed by an abrasion on our skin whether it be a pimple, a scar, or something with greater depth such as malignant melanoma can cause quite the adrenaline rush. Diseases of the integumentary system are just as life threating but can be even more mind boggling than a disease occurring internally. For a person to actually see the change in their skin while taking steps to cure it on their own with home remedies and skin care treatments just to find out that the disease is beyond just a simple “break-out” or rash can cause other problems such as stress and insecurity. The integumentary system fights as a barrier to protect the skin and also excrete waste, diseases sometimes hinder this system from doing its main job; which is defending …show more content…
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 …show more content…
Other factors that a person experiencing melanoma should pay attention to is if this condition is hereditary, having many moles over the number of 50, a frail immune system, and light pigmented skin. To discover if you have melanoma there are a series of skin test that can be taken before diagnosis. Diagnosing melanoma consists of taking biopsies of the skins that are among three different types; punch, excisional, and incisional. All three of these including removing parts of the skin and the mole for an analysis. Like most cancer, it comes in stages of severity; four being the most severe. Melanoma occurs through four stages and the final stages implies that the melanoma has reached the internal organs such as the lungs or the liver.
Like most diseases there are treatments and drugs used to treat the cancer. These treatments include chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, medicinal therapy used to target specific cells, and biological therapy used to help strengthen the immune system. Medicine that is used during the stages of melanoma are “Vemurafenib (Zelboraf), dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist) are targeted therapy drugs used to treat advanced melanoma.” (Mayo Clinic Staff 2016). More test such as biopsies are taken after targeted therapy to analyze how well the drugs are helping diminish the cancerous
Distinguishing melanoma may seem hard to do, but is not so once a person is informed on what they should be looking for. They may appear similar to moles, and may be blue or black in color. Though they will usually lack the symmetry and border regularity of a common mole, and may have variance in their coloring. Melanomas can either appear suddenly, or develop slowly near a preexisting mole. In rare cases, melanomas may form on top of previously formed moles or birthmarks, but will also come with the effects of pain, itching, or bleeding. These moles may begin to exhibit new and/or strange characteristics such as
Any type of change size, color, or shape of a mole is an important warning sign. For weeks or months, watch the changes that occur. The ABCDE rule is a helpful rule to estimate skin changes. A is asymmetry. If one half of a mole does not match the other have there is no symmetry. B is border irregularity. Jagged, uneven, or blurred edges of a mole should catch your attention. C is color. Changes in the mole color, particularly from the edge of the mole to the middle. D is for the diameter. If the mole is larger than 6mm the mole should be of concern. E is evolution. Changes in the surface size and shape, as well as itching or tenderness should be observed. Often time’s melanoma is developed in unmarked skin, but can also develop in existing moles or birthmarks (“Melanoma and Skin Cancer Symptoms”). Skin examinations should be an often routine provided by a doctor. Any notice of suspicious signs, see a health care provider as quick as possible. Examinations by a dermatologist are a potential way to see if you have developed skin cancer. If during the examination skin cancer is suspected a biopsy will probably be the next process (Knight).
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
It is usually caused by intense exposure from ultraviolet radiation such as sun or tanning beds. Melanoma is when damaged DNA from this high exposure triggers mutations in the body that leads to the intense multiplication of cancerous cells. Melanoma cancer can look almost like a mole and can range from skin colored to black or brown in color. If caught and treated early it is curable, however if not caught early it can spread into the body and cause other cancerous cells or death. There are four types of melanoma skin cancers: superficial spreading melanoma, lentigo maligna, acral lentiginous melanoma and nodular melanoma. Superficial spreading melanoma is the most common and is usually seen in young people, but in all ages as well. It is known for growing along the epidermis for a long period of time before penetrating into the skin. This can also be found almost anywhere on the body but usually for men on their upper bodies and for females on their legs but also upper bodies. Lentigo maligna is known for its appearance for can look similar to a tan or dark discoloration. It is usually found in the elderly population and is the most common in areas of Hawaii. It is found on the upper body, arms, facial area and ears. Acral lentiginous melanoma is known for its appearance under the nails, palms of the hands or feet as a dark discoloration. It is mostly common in Asian and African-American cultures and can
Melinoma grows vry quickly and it can become life threatning as a matter of six weeks if this is untreated by a doctor. Sometimes it can appear on our skin that is not exposed to sunlight. For this cancer it can appear to be flat smudgy outlined,it can alsombe more than onen color like black, red, grey, blue, or even brown. The ways that you can lookfor this cancer is to look for spots that are not round (asymetrical), spot that are uneven boarders on you skin, unusaual or uneven
Cancer occurs when cells in the human body create irregularities and start to duplicate at anomalous quick rates. The outcome is the development of tumors in or on the surface of the body and organs. Tumors might be generous (not destructive) or threatening (harmful). Since ordinary cell improvement and duplication is a moderate procedure which is well controlled, it is evident when cells duplicate so rapidly.
If you notice a change in shape or color of a mole or mark on the skin, it's important to see a dermatologist. Just like any version of skin cancer, diagnosis is found from a skin biopsy. If you visit a dermatologist they will cut part of the mole off and or all of it, and send it to a lab to be tested. If the biopsy comes back positive for basal cell carcinoma, the dermatologist will pick the best treatment based off of the growths length, size, and the patient's health. If positive the surgeon will cut the cancerous tissue fully out depending on the size, and kemo may be needed if the disease is vastly developed. If the tumors are larger skin grafts will be necessary. After surgery you will have to check in with your family doctor to be checked for signs of the disease coming
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 serious type of skin cancer, causing up to 75% cancer-related deaths and is usually occurs due to exposure to UV rays of the sun. The chances are increased with sunburn episodes especially during childhood. It developed from the pigment cells known as melanocytes, a layer of cells producing melanin which protects against the damaging rays of the sun. Sometimes, these pigment cells increase in size and become cancerous melanoma. It didn’t show any particular symptoms, however, it is related to the changes associated with moles, gives ‘ABCDE’ warning signs i.e. Asymmetry, irregular Border, uneven Colour, Diameter, evolution.
Treatments for melanoma depends on different factors depending of the thickness of the tumor and where it is in the body, how quickly the cancer cell are dividing, whether there was bleeding or ulceration of the tumor, how much cancer is in the lymph nodes, the number of places cancer has spread to in the body, whether the cancer has mutations in the gene called BRAF, or depending of the patient’s age and general
In order to put this issue in greater clarity, the following case study should be examined. In Australia, a case was done on 3 groups of patients, “those with invasive superficial or nodular melanoma of the trunk, those with similar histological types of melanoma of the head and neck, and those with lentigo maligna melanoma” (Rivers 728). The patients with melanoma of the head and neck had a history of sun damage and freckling on the faces as a teenager. While the patients with lentigo maligna melanoma tend to freckle and develop solar keratoses. Lastly, patients with melanoma of the trunk are prone to melanocytic naevi (moles) and less exposed to the sun. Melanocytic naevi is densest on the arms and grows according to the equator. (Rivers 728) In other words, sunlight has a major role in the development of naevi. Since getting melanoma has so many risks as a young adult, people need to start taking preventing themselves from getting skin cancer.
Melanoma occurs when cells develop abnormally on the skin and produce abnormal moles. Some of the symptoms of melanoma include these moles getting bigger, changing shape, particularly getting an irregular edge, changing colour – getting darker, becoming patchy or multi shaded, Itching or
The world health organization reports every year nearly 1 million peoples are suffered from melanoma. The mortality rate of melanoma is higher when compared to non-melanoma cancer. The death rate of melanoma is increased averagely 2.6% per annual. When the early stage of melanoma detected, we can cure the disease in low treatment cost and it increases the survival rate. The
Melanoma is a very serious form of skin cancer. Melanoma develops in the melanocytes which are the cells that produce melanin which is what gives your skin its color. You can also get melanoma in your eyes and internal organs but it is very rare. Nobody really knows the cause of melanoma exactly but they have come to the conclusion that you can get it from ultraviolet radiation from the sun, tanning beds and tanning lamps. Anyone can get melanoma at any point in their life but it seems to be higher and increasing in people under 40 years of age and older. Women are especially known for getting melanoma. Melanoma can be treated if found and treated fast at first signs of it.
About 48,000 new cases are diagnosed annually in the United States. About 7,700 people die from this disease each year. Melanoma may suddenly appear without warning but it may also begin in or near a mole or other dark spots in the skin. The most important step you can make is to have any changing mole examined by a dermatologist so that any early melanoma can be removed while still in the curable stage. Heredity can also play a role since a person has an increased chance of developing melanoma if a family member has had melanoma. Warning signs of melanoma include: changes in the surface of a mole, scaliness, oozing, bleeding or the appearance of a new bump, spread of pigment from the border into surrounding skin, and change in sensation including itchiness, tenderness, or pain.