Opinion piece: Importance of skin self-checks in defeating melanoma
March 12, 2020
Opinion piece by Dr Andrew MacGill, Rodney Surgical Centre and MelNet member
In 1985 Dr Akerman, a world-renowned expert in melanoma, said, “With big enough hopes and serious enough convictions, no human being need die of a melanoma.” Despite his optimism, in New Zealand we currently have about 350 people die each year from melanoma – a similar number to our road toll.
Melanoma is on your skin and visible for all to see. It doesn’t need an invasive procedure to diagnose, unlike bowel cancer that requires a colonoscopy, or breast cancer that requires a mammogram. All that is needed to diagnose melanoma is an educated eye. If diagnosed early, melanomas are completely curable with a relatively minor procedure done under local anaesthetic.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of melanoma: flat, slow-growing melanomas that take years to become invasive and spread, and nodular melanomas that become invasive within months. The slow-growing melanomas can be diagnosed with the use of a dermoscope by your doctor before they become invasive. Annual checks with your doctor are sufficient for this type of melanoma. On the other hand the nodular variant, if it appears between annual skin checks, may well be invasive before your next visit to the doctor. Fortunately, nodular melanomas are usually obvious to the untrained eye as “not right” and most patients, if they look, will recognise a nodular lesion. These nodular melanomas are responsible for a large proportion of deaths.
Why are people still dying of melanoma? Mainly because patients don’t look at their own skin on a regular basis. Most patients are able to diagnose their own melanoma in plenty of time for a cure, they just need to look. To start the process of massively reducing your risk of dying of a melanoma, you should see a doctor competent in dermoscopy to get a baseline examination. Thereafter have annual checks. In addition, and maybe more importantly, you need to do self-checks each month of your own skin with the help of mirrors and or a partner. If a new, changing or strange lesion appears between your annual checks, show your doctor. Often it will be benign, and if not will likely be curable with a small procedure. It really is that simple.
New medicines are now becoming available to treat late-stage melanoma and this is very exciting. Until recently, a melanoma that had spread was always terminal but now between 30 to 50 per cent of patients with metastatic melanoma can potentially get long-term remission (and possibly a cure) with these new treatments.
Source:
https://www.localmatters.co.nz/blogs/7752-health-defeating-melanoma.html