Melanoma! Disease presentation!

Since we have a nice and sunny weather, or the period of the year, I had the idea to share with you a not so beautiful but extremely important health topic, which is often associated with excessive sunbathing. I'll write about a topic that's ugly but very important and it's called Melanoma. He presents skin cancer, unfortunately one of the most deadliest (least evil) in the human population, and it is very easy to avoid the horrible scenario he carries with him. I hope that I will help this post to those who read it to understand better how to protect and also to raise awareness of the same disease.

Malignant Melanoma (or Melanoma only, because its occurrence is always malignant and there is no benign variant) is a malignant skin cancer that comes from cells called MELANOCYTS (or from melanocytic cells). Melanocytes are mainly cells found in the skin (although there are several locations where they are present, such as the eye, brain or colon), and the cells contain a pigment, that is, that gives the skin the color of the skin.

The tumor can be developed in two ways. The first is from the already existing changes of benign nature, moles that we know as youth. While the other method of formation is completely without a previous change.

You may have already concluded that the main factor that leads to the formation of Melanoma is UV radiation (ultraviolet). Unfortunately, there is an increased incidence of this carcinoma in recent years for the simple reason of destroying the Ozone layer, which leads to the penetration of more harmful radiation into our atmosphere. In addition to UV radiation, some other risk factors are the genetic basis or the appearance of melanoma in the family, as well as the increased number moles of adolescents on the body.

It is very important to note that melanoma does not occur to a mole, ie a change that is injured and that it is not a risk factor for the onset of the disease. In men, the most common places are the back and the hull, while in women, these places are usually the face and the legs or the lower legs.

Of course, do not be scared, moles are harmless, but a small number of them goes into melanoma, and it is therefore important to look at their young at least once every three months to make sure everything is fine. This procedure is simple and there are strict rules that you need to adhere to and I will explain them now, because I think it's very important to know it properly, but to talk about different variants of Melanoma that are more important on the scientific side.

The so-called ABCDE rule has been accepted in the world. It means, one letter, one feature of the mole to be examined. All these rules and explanations accompanying them will be shown in one image after explanation, which will help you understand the rules and recognize changes.

A!

Asymmetry. You noticed that your moles are mostly circular, oval and regular in shape, so that they can clearly be divided into two halves. In the development of melanoma, this is not the case and it has an irregular shape, that is, asymmetrical.

B!

Border of mole. Unchanged moles are flat edges, which are correct until the malignant change involves dashed, distorted and irregular edges.

C!

Color. Our moles are uniformly monochromatic, from light brown to black, but there is no discoloration on them, i.e. there is no presence of various color shades in one mole, as is the case with melanoma.

D!

Diameter ie Size of change. Unchanged moles are generally of a small diameter, while the mole than 7 mm in diameter are taken as the limit for the change. However, many of us have big moles so that only diameters without other changes can not worry you.

E!

Evolving or Advancement in Growth. Yourmoles, if you have it all his life, is growing from childhood to the same as your body or does not grow. However, in the case of malignancy, it is clear that the moles grows up a lot and changes his form within a few months.

Now a little again about his biology and treatment. When Melanoma appears in some people, then he can have 3 clinical stages of development.

And the stage implies Primary tumor without infiltration of the lymph nodes and without metastases (This in practice means that the tumor is only where it was formed, that is, only in a change and has not yet expanded)

II stage is a regional metastasis in the lymph nodes (it starts its metastasis and since it originates from the skin cells, first these malignant cells go to the nearest lymph nodes of the body)

III stage of disease is distant metastases (What is a situation that is spread by cancer to other organs and distant lymph nodes)

Treatment - Melanoma treatment always implies a surgical treatment of a change with certain guidelines depending on the stage of the disease. Also with the use of additional therapy that may involve radiotherapy (radiation) or cytostatic therapy (drugs - chemotherapy).

Lastly, my personal advice is to check it regularly, it will not take you more than 5 minutes, and you can notice something unusual about it, go to your dermatologist. It is also advisable to listen to advice on exposure to sun rays in the hottest part of the day.

I hope this text has been useful to you, although a little overwhelmed. I thought it was important to share this information, and at least to influence someone to take care of your health.

I'll see you soon, i.e. Reading soon! :)

Sources
Emedicine.medscape.com
Wikipedia

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