Holbrook 1 Adrianna Holbrook Engl 1102 Mrs.

Raymond 19 March 2014

Spread the word

Nobody wants to hear the word cancer come out of a doctors mouth. You especially dont want to hear it if the word melanoma comes before the word cancer. If you have never heard of melanoma cancer by the end of this paper you will know the warning signs, types, treatments, and the risk factors. Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. According to the America Melanoma Foundation statistics show that More than 1 million cases of skin cancer are diagnosed in the United States every year (Robinson). Most of these cancerous growths are caused by ultraviolent radiation from sunlight or the tanning beds. There are many warning signs for you to see if your moles are normal and they are often referred as the ABCDEs of melanoma. A stands for asymmetry, so if you were checking a mole you would draw a line through this mole, the two halves will not match. The B stands for bolder, which means the borders of early melanoma tend to be uneven. Then C stands for color, so having a variety of colors is a big warning sign. So D stands for diameter, my mothers always said that melanoma is often compared to size of a Q-tip. Finally E stands for evolving, so when you are checking your moles out always look for a change in color size shape. Those are the stages for you to check your moles before seeing a doctor. Statistics also show that Current estimates are that 1 in 5 Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime

Holbrook 2 (Robinson). Also melanoma is most often found in young women from the ages of 15-29 years old (Robinson). There are four basic types of melanoma, three of them are only on the top layer of the skin and the fourth one is the one that is more dangerous because it is deeper in the skin and could spread to other parts of the body. The first stage is called the Superficial spreading melanoma it is the most common type and you often see it in younger people. The second stage is called Lentigo melanoma, it is very similar to the first stage but this stage is most often found in the elderly. The third stage is call Acral lentiginous melanoma this stage is not similar to the other two stages because is it most commonly found under nails or on the soles of the feet. It is also found more in African Americas and Asians. The fourth stage is where everything becomes different ballpark; this stage is called Nodular melanoma. It is often found very aggressive when it is first found and this is the most rare form of melanoma. Researchers have not found a cure to melanoma quite yet but there are some temporary treatments that can be done. Studies have shown that In 2004, the total direct cost associated with the treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer was $1.5 billion (Robinson). Treatment will all depend on what stage of melanoma you have because each stage calls for a different treatment. For stages one and two since the cancer is not as aggressive yet they will just simply remove as much of the cancer as they can. For stage three the doctors will begin cutting out the cancer but after that you most likely will start radiation to areas where the lymph nodes were removed. In some cases you might have to start chemotherapy if the cancer is borderline stage four. For stage four by this point it is very hard to cure and the chances of you living a long time are very slim but they will do everything they did in stage three for stage four but they will also add in targeted and immunotherapy therapy.

Holbrook 3 Throughout experience I am very familiar with Nodular melanoma also known as stage four melanoma. This was the type of melanoma that my grandmother was diagnosed with. She fought for two long hard years against this skin cancer. She went to the best doctors in the United States and only five of them were willing to operate on her because she had melanoma in her nasal cavities. After a couple of surgeries they told my grandparents that they could no longer operate on her so they decided to go on to chemotherapy and targeted and immunotherapy. Now let me tell you something about this type of cancer, I have never seen someone so weak in my entire life and once I saw my grandmother after all of the treatment all I could do was cry. I could see that the cancer was literally eating her alive. After a couple of months she finally told my grandfather that she no longer wanted treatment she just want to be with the family until her time comes. We all had a really hard time with accepting that because they last thing we all wanted was to lose her but we realized that it is her decision after all and we have to support it no matter what we think the right thing to do is. A couple months later I ended up losing my grandmother to melanoma but let me tell you one thing she gave it a great fight and even though she ended up losing she still won in our eyes. With telling that story about my grandmother everyone needs to realize that no one is safe from melanoma, in fact everyone is at risk but some are more than others. The most common factors to getting melanoma is exposure to the sun both UVA and UVB rays are harmful and those are from simply laying out on the beach to going to tanning beds. Melanoma also has to do a lot with different kinds of skin type. So people that have fair skin and have lighter eyes and hair have a higher risk of getting skin cancer. The one thing that my family has had the hardest time with is that melanoma runs in our family and the one main thing about melanoma is that is it very heredity.

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Works Cited "Marianne Berwick, PhD | Researcher | Melanoma (Cutaneous)." TalkAboutHealth. N.p., n.d.Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Robinson, J. "American Melanoma Foundation Staticstics." American Melanoma Foundation Staticstics. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Melanoma Causes and Risk Factors "Skin Cancer Foundation."N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. Rosen. "Treatment of Melanoma Skin Cancer by Stage." Treatment of Melanoma Skin Cancer by Stage. N.p., 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cancer.org/cancer/skincancer-melanoma/detailedguide/melanoma-skin-cancertreating-by-stage>.