Metastatic Melanoma

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that begins in specialized skin cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes are responsible for providing pigment to the skin. Among the three types of skin cancer, melanoma is the most aggressive and also the most serious. Metastatic melanoma refers to a disease that has spread from its original lesion site to deeper parts of the skin, and eventually to other parts of the body distant to the primary lesion site.

If you have been diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, it's extremely important to learn as much as you can about your disease and explore every treatment option.

More than 53,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with melanoma every year. It is currently the fastest growing cancer, both in the U.S. and worldwide, especially among young adults between the ages of 20 and 30. Melanoma most commonly occurs in women between the ages of 25 and 29 years, and is one of the most common types of cancer in women 30 to 34 years of age. While melanoma is very treatable when caught in the early stages, it is the cause of almost 8,000 deaths annually.

Melanoma risk factors

Individuals are at a higher risk of developing cancer if they have certain characteristics called risk factors. A risk factor is a specific trait or behavior that increases the chance of developing a disease. Melanoma risk factors include the following:

Sensitivity to the sun: Melanoma occurs most often in people with fair, freckled skin who sunburn easily and have red or blond hair with blue eyes. People who have had one or more blistering sunburns before the age of sixteen are also at greater risk. Melanoma is not common in people with dark skin. However, dark skinned people are not immune to melanoma and tend to develop the cancer on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, in their eyes and under the fingernails and toenails.

Personal and family history: People who have had cancer in the past have a greater risk of developing melanoma. People with a family history of melanoma are also more likely to develop the disease. Ten percent of all melanoma patients have family members who also have had melanoma.

Abnormal moles: A dysplastic nevus can increase the risk of melanoma. These moles can appear anywhere on the body.

‹ previous section | next section ›