You can have melanoma for 2 years and sometimes longer without knowing it as sometimes melanoma is not always obvious.
Some forms of melanoma are more aggressive and grow fast while other forms of melanoma grow slow and are less aggressive.
The difference between melanoma and metastatic melanoma is melanoma is the skin cancer which starts as a single lesion or tumor and metastatic melanoma is the same skin cancer that spreads to distant locations and is advanced and then it's called metastatic.
If immunotherapy doesn't work for melanoma then you can usually try other cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or surgery to remove the melanoma cancer.
The gold standard treatment for metastatic melanoma is surgery to remove the melanoma cancer tumor.
A wide excision is used to remove the melanoma cancer and some of the normal tissue around it.
The reason for not using chemo for melanoma is because chemotherapy does not work as good against melanoma as it does for other types of cancer.
Doctors also use targeted cancer drugs or immunotherapy first to treat melanoma.
Melanoma usually starts on your back, face, arms and legs and areas that most often are exposed to the skin.
However melanoma can start and develop anywhere on the body.
The deadliest type of melanoma is nodular melanoma which is also the most aggressive form of melanoma.
Nodular melanoma most often appears as small black lumps and is more common in men and people older than 60 years of age.
Melanoma is mostly flat although sometimes some types of melanoma may be barely raised with irregular edges and different colors.
The most common place for melanoma is on the back, legs, arms and face.
However melanoma cancers can appear and develop anywhere on the body and melanoma can even appear on the soles of the feet, palms of the hands and fingernail beds.
Most melanoma cancers appear as a brown or black color although some melanoma cancers can be red, purple, skin colored or pink.
You can have some types of melanoma for 10 years and not know it and other types of melanoma you can have it for a few weeks to a month or two without knowing it.
If you have radial melanoma you can have it for a decade before you know about it and for radial melanoma it will usually grow rapidly in a matter of a few weeks to a few months before you know it.
Melanoma can grow fast or slow depending on the type of melanoma cancer you have.
Melanoma cancer makes you feel very tired and sometimes weak and you can have unexplained pain and a hard or swollen lymph nodes and a hard lump on the skin.
The signs that you caught melanoma early are a sore which does not heal and the fact the melanoma cancer has not spread too far.
Melanoma typically appears as a brown or black raised lump with dark, irregular colors and borders.
But keep in mind that it can also look like a pinkish raised lump or mole that grows quickly in size.
Melanoma can be a tiny black dot and the spots or dots with melanoma can vary in color from one area to the next and can be shades of black or brown or tan or even areas of white, blue or red.
Melanomas are most often greater than 6 millimeters or around the size of a pencil eraser when they are diagnosed although they can sometimes be smaller in size.
Melanoma cancer is sometimes itchy and you can also bleed and have oozing with melanoma cancer.
Most often if you're experiencing itchiness due to melanoma, you'll see it in the “E” (evolution) stage of melanoma cancer.
This means you'll notice that the mole has been changing in size, shape, color or appearance.
And the lesions from melanoma are usually less likely to be painful or itchy compared to others.
Melanoma spreads very quickly and can spread and advanced to be life threatening and fatal in as little as 6 weeks.
Stage 1 melanoma means the melanoma cancer cells are in both the first and second layers of the skin—the epidermis and the dermis.
The melanoma cancer is considered Stage I if the tumor is up to 2 mm thick, and it may or may not have ulceration.
There is no evidence the melanoma cancer has spread to lymph nodes or distant sites (metastasis).
When you have melanoma the melanoma can affect your body in several ways and cause symptoms that indicate the melanoma may be spreading.
The symptoms of advanced melanoma or signs that melanoma are spreading include.
Hard or swollen lymph nodes.
A hard lump on your skin.
Unexplained pain.
Feeling very tired or unwell.
Unexplained weight loss.
Yellowing of eyes and skin (jaundice)
The build up of fluid in your tummy (abdomen) - ascites.
And tummy pain.
Melanoma can spread to parts of your body far away from where the cancer started.
This is called advanced, metastatic, or stage IV melanoma.
The melanoma can move to your lungs, liver, brain, bones, digestive system, and lymph nodes.
Most people find their skin cancer early, before it has spread
Several types of skin conditions can be and have been mistaken for melanoma.
Common skin conditions that have been and can be mistaken for melanoma include.
Solar Lentigo. These are more commonly known as age or liver spots.
Seborrheic Keratosis.
Blue Nevus.
Dermatofibroma.
Keratoacanthoma.
Pyrogenic Granuloma.
The symptoms of melanoma besides moles are swelling beyond the border of the mole and scaliness, oozing, bleeding, or the appearance of a lump or bump.
Other symptoms of melanoma include pigment, redness or swelling that spreads outside the border of a spot to the surrounding skin. Itchiness, tenderness or pain.
Changes in texture, or scales, oozing or bleeding from an existing mole. Blurry vision or partial loss of sight, or dark spots in the iris.
Some types of melanoma can appear as a blister.
Melanoma and especially nodular melanoma can look like a blood blister.
The melanoma or nodular melanoma can appear as the beginning of a bump that looks like a clear bubble or blood blister on the skin and continues to grow after the first 3 weeks.
A lump that feels firm to the touch.
A blood blister can appear like melanoma but a blood blister is non cancerous and will usually go away on it's own.
If you think have melanoma and are not sure if it's actually a blood blister or melanoma it's best to see a doctor to have it checked out.
The only way to know for sure if it is a blood blister or melanoma is to have the bump examined.
This can be done by visiting your doctor or dermatologist.
If you don't typically get pimples or didn't have any injury that would have caused a blood blister, there is more cause for concern.
With melanoma you may not feel anything or you may feel a bit itchy from the melanoma when it appears on your skin.
When you have melanoma hard lumps may appear in your skin.
You may also lose your breath, have chest pain or noisy breathing or have a cough that won't go away.
You may feel pain in your liver (the right side of your stomach) Your bones may feel achy.
Depending on the melanoma the melanoma can be raised or flat.
Although the most common type of melanoma most often appears as a flat or barely raised lesion with irregular edges and different colors.
Fifty percent of these melanomas occur in preexisting moles.
Melanoma usually appears as a round, raised lump on the surface of the skin that is pink, red, brown or black and feels firm to touch.
It may develop a crusty surface that bleeds easily.
Stage 1 melanoma will appear and be no more than 1.0 millimeter thick (about the size of a sharpened pencil point), with or without an ulceration (broken skin).
There is no evidence that Stage I melanoma has spread to the lymph tissues, lymph nodes, or body organs.
Stage 1 Melanoma is the less severe stage and noninvasive stage of melanoma.
The Stage 1 melanoma is the noninvasive stage, which is also called melanoma “in situ,” meaning “in its original place.”