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Malignant Melanoma Disease

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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

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