What Is Malignant Melanoma?
Posted on April 7, 2008
The awareness of skin cancer increases everyday as more is known about the disease and more exposure is given to preventing the disease on television and radio than ever before. It is thought to be the most common form of cancer in the United States and Australia alone.
Whilst this might be alarming, most forms of skin cancer are not life threatening and can be treated. The fact that most of the signs of the disease are on the surface of the skin means that they can be identified and treated early on with complete success.
However there is one form of the disease that can be life threatening if not caught early on. This is malignant melanoma. This article will discuss what is malignant melanoma and ways to prevent the disease.
Cancer is thought to be caused by a combination of a persons genetic makeup and their exposure to some environmental condition. In the case of malignant melanoma, the environmental condition is too much exposure to the Sun. Specifically, ultraviolet radiation from the Sun (UVA and UVB radiation). Or exposure to other things that radiate ultraviolet radiation onto and into the skin (Sun beds for instance).
Too much ultraviolet radiation can mutate the DNA of a cell, making it cancerous. The genes in the DNA that cause this become known as oncogenes. Cells that have undergone this transformation do not die but divide and proliferate. They grow at an unregulated rate. As they continue to multiply their growth can become invasive.
This means they interfere with surrounding tissue or organs causing them to malfunction or be destroyed. If cancerous cells get into the bloodstream or lymphatic system, then they can spread to other parts of the body. This is known as metastasizing. When cancer spreads to the rest of the body it gets very difficult to treat.
Current research suggests that the prime cause of malignant melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet radiation. And since it is virtually impossible to not be exposed to sunlight in some way, the Sun is the primary cause of melanoma. However other factors are thought to increase the chances of developing the disease.
If you have a family history of the disease then your chances are increased. If you have fair skin,freckles, fair or red hair and pale colored eyes then you are more at risk. If you have plenty of moles on your skin you may also be at risk (although some people that are born with moles on the skin are not thought to be as susceptible)
Melanoma can start as a brown mark or spot on the skin. This may be hard to distinguish from an ordinary mole however if it starts to change color or gets larger then this may be a sign of melanoma. If you notice something like this happening on your body you should see a doctor.
Prevent melanoma by limiting your exposure to sunlight and other things that will expose you to UV radiation. If you are in the Sun, wear a hat, clothe as much of the body as practical, sunglasses and sunscreen.
For more details of common signs and symptoms of skin cancer and the types of skin cancer visit http://symptomsofskincancer.net
Article Author :Adrian_Whittle
Last 6 posts in Skin Cancer
- Recognize Skin Cancer - August 17th, 2008
- My Experience With Vitamin C and Basal Cell Carcinoma - August 8th, 2008
- What is Prostate Cancer? - July 24th, 2008
- What is Uterine Sarcoma Cancer? - July 23rd, 2008
- Sun Damaged Skin - July 19th, 2008
- Alarming Breast Cancer Statistics - July 19th, 2008
- The Moh's Procedure - July 15th, 2008
- Melanoma's Dramatic Increase - Another Reason to Self Tan - July 15th, 2008
- The Whole Truth About Sunlight, Cancer and Sunscreens - July 15th, 2008
- Recognise Skin Cancer - July 15th, 2008
Pain is an unpleasant sensation. Most mesothelioma patients suffer from pain to a certain degree. It can be mild but it can also be acute or chronic. Acute pain is severe pain that comes quickly but usually lasts for a short time. On the other hand chronic pain is more persistent and lasts for a longer period of time. Pain arises both from the tumor itself and from the treatment taken. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery can cause pain. Perhaps it is chemotherapy drugs that cause the most discomforts.
Chemotherapy usually cause discomforts as much or sometimes even more than pain caused… Continue reading
Perhaps one of the most visible symptoms that an individual has cancer is hair loss. Many patients are very aware and concerned about the loss of their hair. Hair thinning and hair loss is a common side effect of some chemotherapy drugs and radiation therapy. This occurs because chemotherapy drugs damages rapid growing cells such as those of mesothelioma but also other normal rapid growing cells such as that of the hair. However the hair will grow some time after chemotherapy is terminated and it may not necessary be of the same texture or color as was prior to chemotherapy.
There… Continue reading
Chemotherapy drugs can have a temporal effect on the bone marrow and may so cause a reduction in the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. If there is a reduction of these cells, the body is easily bruised and bleeding will take longer to stop. White blood cells fight infections and so by a drop in the count of these cells, the body will be less able to fight any infection. Symptoms as headaches, muscle pain, sore throat, a cough, feeling cold and problems in passing urine may be an indication of an infection. It is very important… Continue reading
Related posts
» Filed Under Skin Cancer
Comments
Leave a Reply
