Melanoma

Melanoma is a type of rare skin cancer, but in terms of skin cancer related deaths it is the major culprit. The more serious type of melanoma is "malignant melanoma". This kind, like most forms of cancer is the uncontrolled growth of a specific type of cells. With Melanoma it is the pigment cell in our skin. I am interested in learning about this type of cancer because I knew people who suffered from this malignant melanoma and it seems to be a serious problem. Every year 48,000 people die from Melanoma.

It is known that it affects Caucasians and males most commonly, so i personally would be at a greater risk for this. Generally there are two causes for a person to develop melanoma. These are a predisposed risk (such as a family member who may have had it previously), and the amount of sun you are exposed to throughout your life. When i say sun, i mean specifically the ultraviolet rays in sunlight, which are the damaging ones. These rays can cause damage to the DNA in your cells, potentially leading to cancer. However it is worthwhile to note that the occasional sunburn is only partially related to the chance of you getting melanoma, but tanning beds that have UV rays have been positively linked to it. There are a few solid ways to prevent the development of melanoma. First you can simply minimize your exposure to direct sunlight. Second, wearing pants instead of shorts, long sleeved shirts, and a hat. This is to protect the areas of your body that regularly receive direct sunlight. Lastly what I found interesting was that sunscreen (even with an SPF over 30) has not been proven to prevent melanoma.

The last thing to think about is the treatment methods because science is always coming up with better methods of treatment for any type of cancer these days. The most common form of treatment is surgery of the afflicted area, where they will completely remove the tumor, and a little of the surrounding area to make sure it is completely gone. Another common form of treatment is chemotherapy. This is where they will use the chemical treatment to try and kill the cancer cells completely. The last type is radiation. this is reserved for people with very localized tumors. this is a last resort type of treatment, as it generally does not provide a long term solution for the problem.

However I think the best thing to do would be preventative maintenance. if you can take the steps to prevent melanoma before it starts you wont have to worry about it later in your life.