Ocular Melanoma Research Paper

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).

Ocular Melanoma: two other names for this is called Uveal Melanoma & Choroidal Melanoma. These are said to be the rarest forms of melanoma which can occur in the eyes.

The Integumentary system is defined as “an organ system consisting in the skin, hair, nails, and exocrine glands” (Integumentary System, 1999). This systems main purpose is to protect the body from the environment around it. The skin covers and protects tissues, nerves, veins, and muscles of the body. The hair and nails give extra strength in reinforcing the skin while keeping the body warm and protecting the skin from harmful UV rays. The exocrine glands of the skin include the sudoriferous glands, sebaceous glands, and the ceruminous glands. Each exocrine gland has a different function as well as location in the skin. The following text will explain the effects of melanoma on the integumentary system.

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

There are three primary layers of the skin: the outer layer, the epidermis and the layer beneath, the dermis and the hypodermis. The epidermis is thin, tough and waterproof while protecting the body from outside bacteria invading the body. It also contains keratinocytes which are from the basal layer which is the deepest layer of the skin. The keratinocytes reach up to the epidermis, shed and new ones form again. The dermis is the second layer of the skin and is the thickest. It is made from fibrous and elastic tissues which are made from fibrillin, elastin and collagen to create the strength and flexibility. It also contains sweat and oil glands, nerve endings, blood vessels and hair follicles. Sweat glands help the body cool off during heat

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

Melanoma is a malignant condition arising from melanocytes in the basal layer of the skin. Melanocytes are the cells that produce melanin, which gives skin its pigmentation and shields the deeper layers of skin from the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation. When skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation, melanocytes increase their production of melanin, which generates darker pigmentation of the skin. Ultraviolet radiation stimulates malignant changes within the melanocytes by mutating DNA, stimulating cutaneous growth factors, decreases immune defenses, and promotes species of melanin that cause DNA impairment and suppress apoptosis. The abnormalities caused by ultraviolet radiation in the melanocytes predispose it to

Melanoma can be anywhere on your body. Moles, warts, or even a sun burn can lead to melanoma. Melanoma is a form of cancer that begins in melanocytes, cells in the skin that produce the brown color known as melanin. These are the cells that darken when exposed to the sun, a protective response to protect the deeper layers of the skin from the harmful effects of the sun.

Malignant melanoma is the most commonly seen skin cancer and it has the highest number of deaths among diseases of the skin (Friedman, Rigel, Kopf and Polsky, 2005). Among the many factors that cause this cutaneous cancer genetic modifications, viruses, carcinogens and excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays are the most commonly occurring (Friedman, Rigel, Kopf and Polsky, 2005). Malignant melanoma affects all areas of the skin and the disease forms in melanocytes, which are the cells in which pigments (melanin) are synthesized (Melanoma Treatment). The cancer has its origin in the epidermis and affect squamous and basal cells. The disease usually affects the trunk, arms and legs but can also be present in the eye, affecting the

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.

Once Melanoma is diagnosed they take a few steps to figure out a couple things. One thing they want to know is how bad it is. They would do that by several types of test. Melanoma also has stages to it. The stages refer to depth, thickness, and by how much it has spread. They also do this to determine the type of treatment they need to do. Ways they can treat Melanoma is mainly by surgical removal. When they do that it may involve a skin graft. Sometimes they do it the same time as the biopsy.

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer. It accounts for a large proportion of skin-related deaths. Among all cancer types, melanoma has a particularly high propensity to metastasize to the brain, occurring in >50% of all patients with advanced disease. Current therapeutic options of chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation have very limited efficacy for patients with melanoma brain metastasis. These patients either have multiple metastatic lesions or diagonistically challenging asymptomatic lesions, making surgery an inadequate therapeutic option by itself.

Small or suspicious melanomas (those with a height less than 3 mm) are kept under close observation for growth before treatment is started. Medium-sized tumors (those between 3 and 6 mm in height) can be treated with either radiation therapy or enucleation; it has been determined that both treatments prevent the spread of cancer. In large-sized tumors (those greater than 6 mm in height), the treatment of choice is usually enucleation. This is because the eye would not be able to tolerate the amount of radiation that will need to treat a tumor of this size. The COMS study showed no benefit in administering radiation prior to