Melanoma Cancer Explained
If you or a loved one have recently received the diagnosis, you’re probably aching to have melanoma cancer explained to you. It’s a complex subject that starts with a broader glance at skin cancer.
There are three major forms of skin cancer. Each of these has been proven to be caused by exposure to sunlight (though many other causes can be at root). When caused by sunlight, the microscopic view shows this: ultraviolet radiation causes a disruption in the cell’s normal genetic operations, which break down and, under the right circumstances, change the cell into a precancerous or cancerous cell. The three forms of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Melanoma is by far the most dangerous of the three.
What is Melanoma?
All three forms of skin cancer begin in the epidermis, where sunlight’s ultraviolet rays most easily penetrate. Melanoma has symptoms that are unique, easily distinguishing it from its brethren.
The first indication of melanoma is usually a change in color of a mole or a small patch of skin. Melanoma is named as such because it produces brown or black pigments — thus “melan” (Greek for black) and “oma” (a tumor). As such, it is wise for anyone who spends an appreciable amount of time in the sun to keep an eye on their skin for dark spots, patchy skin, or moles. Specifically, bleeding moles, new moles, and rapidly-changing dark spots are always worth reporting to your doctor right away.
Melanoma’s Principal Causes
Reportedly, those people who have lighter skin — and oddly lighter eyes — burn more easily than others. As such, they are also considered to be at a higher risk for skin cancer. Over the years, regular exposure to sunlight can progressively increase your risk for skin cancer. Sunbathing is the most common way to get melanoma from sun exposure, though prolonged outdoor work in a zero-shade environment — such as farming — is thought to be almost as bad. A sunbather that burns to the point of blistering is at a markedly higher risk than otherwise.
Other Causes of Melanoma Cancer, Explained.
Of course, sun exposure is not the only cause of melanoma — in fact, many melanomas are discovered at the bottom of the feet! Other known causes are mutagens, which can alter your DNA structure and cause a cell to become cancerous; long-term injuries, in which cells try to heal an injury but for whatever reason fail — sometimes the new cells created on the site of such an injury simply malfunction and become cancerous; and a variety of birth defects such as xeroderma pigmentosum that make the skin very fragile and sensitive to environmental changes, effectively mimicking the effects of a mutagen.
Melanoma Cancer Prognosis
Melanoma is the most deadly of the skin cancers, because is spreads much more quickly than its brothers. Detected and treated early enough, almost seventy-five percent of patients treated with traditional medicine survive. Several known alternative treatments are particularly effective against melanoma as well — and there are even stories of people who conquered melanoma entirely on their own, with no treatment at all. Personally, I’d really like to see that aspect of melanoma cancer explained.