What Is Malignant Melanoma ? | Print |  E-mail
User Rating: / 0
PoorBest 
Written by Adrian Fletcher   
Sunday, 06 April 2008
The awareness of skin cancer increases everyday as more is known about the disease and more exposure is given to preventing the disease on television and radio than ever before. It is thought to be the most common form of cancer in the United States and Australia alone.
by AdrianFletcher


The awareness of skin cancer increases everyday as more is known about the disease and more exposure is given to preventing the disease on television and radio than ever before. It is thought to be the most common form of cancer in the United States and Australia alone.

Whilst you might think this is scare mongering, the reality is that most forms of skin cancer are fairly easy to treat provided they are identified early on. As most skin cancer starts on the surface of the skin, it is easy to identify if you examine your skin regularly. With early identification comes a rapid treatment with total success.

However there is one form of the disease that can be life threatening if not caught early on. This is malignant melanoma. This article will discuss what is malignant melanoma and ways to prevent the disease.

There are two factors that are thought to cause cancer. These are your genetic makeup and exposure to one or more environmental conditions. As far as malignant melanoma is concerned, the environmental condition that causes the disease is ultraviolet radiation (UVA and UVB radiation - ultraviolet radiation on different wavelengths). We are exposed to UVA and UVB radiation everyday as it comes from the Sun.

Depending on your genetic makeup, too much ultraviolet radiation can cause the DNA of one or more cells to mutate. The genes within the DNA transform to be called oncogenes. They promote tumor growth and make the cell cancerous. A cancerous cell will divide and proliferate rather than die like many other cells that are damaged. This proliferation can sometime be rapid and the cancerous cells can become invasive.

Invasive growth means the cancer invades the surrounding tissue or even organs within the body. It can prevent the organs from functioning and in some cases destroy them. In some cases the cancerous cells can spread to the blood stream or the lymphatic system making it easier for the cancer to spread throughout the body. When this happens it becomes very difficult to treat and prevent further spreading. This is known as metastasizing.

So, whilst ultraviolet radiation and our exposure to sunlight is thought to be the primary environmental cause of malignant melanoma, there are a number of genetic factors that increase the risk.

If you have a family history of the disease then your chances are increased. If you have fair skin,freckles, fair or red hair and pale colored eyes then you are more at risk. If you have plenty of moles on your skin you may also be at risk (although some people that are born with moles on the skin are not thought to be as susceptible)

Typically, a brown spot or mark on the surface of the skin could be the first sign of a melanoma. If you already have moles on your body then it may be hard to differentiate between an ordinary mole and a melanoma. however, if the spot or mark starts to change in color or grow larger and in an irregular shape then you should see your doctor.

Prevent melanoma by limiting your exposure to sunlight and other things that will expose you to UV radiation. If you are in the Sun, wear a hat, clothe as much of the body as practical, sunglasses and sunscreen.

About the Author:

Find out some symptoms and dangers of skin cancer at http://symptomsofskincancer.net



Reddit!Del.icio.us!Google!Live!Facebook!Slashdot!Netscape!Technorati!StumbleUpon!Spurl!Newsvine!Furl!Yahoo!Ma.gnolia!Squidoo!FeedMeLinks!Free social bookmarking plugins and extensions for Joomla! websites!

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.


Add as favourites (0) | Quote this article on your site | Views: 60

Be first to comment this article
RSS comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]

Related News

Related Items
RocketTheme Joomla Templates