Introduction to Melanoma Cancer

What is Melanoma?

The word "melanoma" comes from the Ancient Greek melas and oma. Melas means "black", while oma means "disease, morbidity".

Melanoma is a malignant tumor or uncontrolled growth of skin pigment cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the melanin, a dark pigment which is responsible for the color of skin. They are generally and predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye, which is called uveal melanoma. In fact, Melanoma can occur in any part of the human body, as long as it contains melanocytes.

When melanocytes cluster together, moles will be formed on human skin. The moles are called “nevi" in medical term. The number of moles varied according to people, some has several or maybe even dozens. However, they usually don't cause any problems. Moles may be flat or raised, large or small, light or dark, and can appear anywhere on human bodies. Because of a genetic change, they can begin to grow uncontrolled, sticking and clumping together to form tumours  damaging the surrounding healthy cells and tissue, which lead to cancer disease.

Mole on human face

If melanoma is detected at early stage when it's still on the surface of the skin, the chances of recovering is high. However, if melanoma is ignored or untreated, it can grow deeper and downward into the skin until it reaches the blood vessels and lymphatic system. If these two systems are invaded by the cancer cells, they will be easily transported to important organs like the lungs or the brain.

Human skin structure with melanoma

Differences between Melanoma and Skin Cancer

Many people often think of skin cancer when they heard about the term ‘Melanoma’. In fact, melanoma is difference from skin cancer. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer, but not all types of skin cancers are melanoma. Generally, melanoma is a specific type of skin cancer. There are 3 main types of skin cancer, namely Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Basal Cell Carcinoma, and Malignant Melanoma:

A) Squamous Cell Carcinoma

~Also called non-melanoma carcinoma.

~Often appears as nodules on the skin.

~Usually found on the rim of the ear, face, mouth and lips

~Can appear as red, scaly patches.

~Generally found in the skin of Caucasian people with very fair skin. It is more aggressive than Basal Cell Carcinoma

~Easy to treat successfully.

B) Basal Cell Carcinoma

~Sometimes called non-melanoma skin cancer. 

~Appears as a small, fleshy bump or nodule on the patient's hands, neck or head.

~The nodules may appear on the trunk of the body (mostly as flat growths).

~Accounts for 90% of skin cancers in the USA and UK.

~Easy to diagnose and treat successfully.

~Can spread to other parts of the body if left untreated.

~Can extend below the skin to the bone, causing significant local damage.

~Patients have higher risk of developing other skin cancers.

C) Malignant Melanoma

~Cancer cells are found in the melanocytes or melanin.

~A rare disease among teenagers and children.

~It is predominately found in adults.

~The most aggressive form of skin cancer.

~The rarest disease among these 3 types of skin cancer.