Facts and myths about melanoma

This is an extremely difficult opponent – in Poland, 1 in 3 patients dies of melanoma. Late diagnosis is usually the reason for such high mortality. Remember your birthmark “will not wait”, make an appointment with a dermatologist today.

MYTH: Melanoma is incurable

Melanoma is not a sentence – early detection gives a good chance of recovery. The patient’s prognosis depends, inter alia, on depth, thickness of the infiltration, presence of (micro) ulceration of the primary melanoma, number of metastatic regional lymph nodes. If the depth of the infiltration of the lesion does not exceed 1 mm (the extent of the lesion does not matter), it is almost 100 percent curable. If the local lymph nodes are not involved, you don’t even need adjuvant treatment. Unfortunately, the presence of distant metastases is still associated with poor prognosis. That is why it is so important to diagnose this cancer quickly and correctly.

FACT: People with light skin are more likely to get the disease

People with the ‘Nordic phenotype’, which means fair skin, fair or red hair, blue irises, are at greater risk of sunburn and skin damage from sunlight and UV radiation, and are therefore at risk. Other risk factors include the syndrome of dysplastic moles, the occurrence of the so-called lentil blotches and a family history of melanoma. It is worth remembering that the group particularly exposed to sunburn are children whose skin is not yet mature and cannot protect itself against strong solar radiation. Unfortunately, sunburn in children is not uncommon and doubles the risk of developing melanoma in the future.

MYTH: Melanoma affects only the elderly

This is one of the common myths – today we note cases of melanoma in young people more often than in previous years. The reasons for this state of affairs should be seen in the change of lifestyle, mainly the greater popularity of tanning beds and the fashion for tanned skin. Many twenty-year-olds come to our Foundation, Star of Hope, desperately looking for treatment – says Barbara Pepke, who took care of melanoma prevention and health education after her father’s death.

FACT: Melanoma can not only form on the skin

Indeed, melanoma most often develops on the skin – within the so-called pigmented lesions (commonly called moles) and on unchanged skin. But it can also form in the gastrointestinal mucosa or in the eyeball. In men, it usually appears on the scalp, neck and nape, while in women – on the skin of the legs. Importantly, melanoma may appear in several places on the body – one disease focus does not exclude the appearance of several others, even if the melanoma is not spread.

FACT: Melanoma is a malignant cancer of the skin

Melanoma is an extremely difficult opponent. It is characterized by aggressive growth and early and multiple metastases that are difficult to treat with drugs. This means that melanoma quickly changes from a local disease (developing in one place on the skin) to a diffuse form of the so-called generalized. Every year in Poland, oncologists record 2500-3000 new cases. According to statistics, nearly 30% of patients die of this cancer because they go to the doctors too late!

MYTH: Melanoma is black

Not all melanomas are black – there are also light brown, blue, steel melanomas, often with a heterogeneous distribution of the pigment. The ABCD (E) system allows for the initial identification of some melanomas on the basis of a clinical examination without the use of additional diagnostic methods. Letter A describes asymmetry, letter B characterizes edges which are uneven and jagged in melanoma, C describes the color – black, red, patchy. The letter D corresponds to the size – our suspicions should be aroused especially by changes with a diameter greater than 5-6 mm, while E means “evolution”, that is, progressive changes. Unfortunately, not all melanomas fit this description. Self-control gives you the chance to detect cancer early, but it will not replace a visit to a dermatologist!

FACT: Public awareness of the prevention and risk factors of melanoma is still low

According to opinion polls, half of Poles do not observe their skin and do not pay attention to birthmarks. The key to an early diagnosis of melanoma is knowing your body well. Self-examination should be performed once a month by both the elderly and adolescents. We should remember that melanoma can develop in anyone, and we, Poles, are highly exposed due to fair skin. Our Foundation, together with Sanepid and the Czerniak Academy, has been implementing an educational program for students all over Poland for 7 years. On the website www.g Gwiazdanadziei.pl you can find information and educational materials from this project.

The material was published in collaboration with Novartis

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