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Melanoma Cancer Terms

There are a series of commonly-used melanoma terms, which need to be properly understood enabling accurate communication and information acquiring, as well as taking preventive measures, when required. Below we include several specific melanoma terms (please note some of the terms may actually be misused):
  • malignant melanoma – is another common name for melanoma conditions. However, in a very strict sense, being a type of cancer, any form of melanoma is malignant (malignant is used to infer cancerous-type), thus by simply using the term “melanoma”, it is inferred “malignant melanoma”;
  • melanoma cancer is equivalent to both “melanoma” and “malignant melanoma” – while any of these terms may be used, melanoma is the best term to use since the other terms includes an obvious repetition – also see our discussion above;
  • metastatic melanoma – refers to the terminal form of melanoma resulting into metastasis (cancer that has spread out in the body affecting other organs). Many forms of cancer (like melanoma) may result into metastasis at a later stage, which means that the cancer had intruded in the body affecting other body parts and organs – in a way it can be seen as a “generalized” cancer. At this stage, there are usually no treatments, death being inevitable;
  • melanoma moles – consist in common non-dangerous moles that – at one point in time - become cancerous. Moles are formed though the non-cancerous growth of some basal skin cells called melanocytes (which produce a protein called melanin). While not all moles become cancerous, some may become and it is important to understand and minimize the influencing factors as well as be aware of the changes that may happen in moles, in order to identify dangerous situations. Things to watch for (changes) in existing moles include:
    • changing in color/pigmentation
    • changing in shape involving loss of symmetry (with marked asymmetry) and poorly outlined margins
    • increase in size, especially at a rapid rate
    • loss of symmetry and irregular pigmentation
    • loss of pigmentation – which could be associated with amelanotic melanoma
  • ocular melanoma – refers to melanoma developing on eye tissue. Although the most common of the types of melanoma develops on skin, mucous membranes may be affected including those from mouth and eyes.