When you have nodular melanoma and it's left untreated you can usually live for a few years to up to 5 years depending on how fast is spreads.
Nodular melanoma presents as a rapidly enlarging lump (over several weeks to months).
The characteristics of nodular melanoma include: Larger size than most moles – >6 mm and often a centimeter or more in diameter at diagnosis.
Dome-shaped, often symmetrical firm lump.
Nodular melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer.
It grows and spreads more quickly than other types, and a doctor usually diagnoses it at a later stage.
If melanoma has not spread, the 5-year survival rate is 98.4 percent.
Nodular melanoma does sometimes hurt to touch and may sting or also be itchy.
To tell if you have nodular melanoma you should get tested to be sure.
However you can look at your skin to see if you may have nodular melanoma.
The color that nodular melanoma is is can be either a blackish-blue, dark brown, or reddish-blue bump.
Some nodular melanoma nodules will have no color or will be flesh toned.
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.”
With stage I melanoma, the tumor's thickness is 1mm or less.
This tumor may or may not have ulcerated, and it isn't yet believed to have spread beyond the original site.
With appropriate treatment, Stage I melanoma is highly curable.
There is low risk for recurrence or metastasis.
The 5-year survival rate as of 2018 for local melanoma, including Stage I, is 98.4%.
In Stage I melanoma, the cancer cells are in both the first and second layers of the skin the epidermis and the dermis.
A melanoma tumor is considered Stage I if it is up to 2 mm thick, and it may or may not have ulceration.
There is no evidence the cancer has spread to lymph nodes or distant sites (metastasis).
Almost all people (almost 100%) will survive their melanoma for 1 year or more after they are diagnosed. around 90 out of every 100 people (around 90%) will survive their melanoma for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
The chance or risk that melanoma will recur after treatment of the first melanoma is grouped into the following categories: Low risk – less than 20% risk of recurrence.
Intermediate risk – 20–50% risk of recurrence.
High risk – greater than 50% risk of recurrence.