In 1970 when I had just mastered my ABC’s, Michael Jackson arrived on the scene with an ABC song.
This summer I’ve got your back. I’m going to teach you the ABC’s of melanoma detection.
By now we all know someone who has been diagnosed with melanoma. In my surgical pathology practice in Houston, I diagnosed more basal cell carcinoma than melanoma, but melanoma scares me more. Melanoma can strike at a young age and ultimately metastasize to distant organs and kill.
While this topic seems serious for my good-time blog, it is, after all, about prolonging the good times.
It’s summer and skin is everywhere. The girl in front of me at the Durham Bulls game last weekend was wearing a halter that left most of her back and her two-tone nevus bare. Two-tone is for spectator pumps, not spectators.
While the ethics of a doctor’s responsibility to tell a stranger to get a skin biopsy would make for an interesting topic, it's not as interesting to most people as say, baseball stats. I will allow that when I saw my husband’s “funny looking mole” on his back last month, I didn’t even nag when he said he would take care of it. I scheduled the appointment and drove him to the dermatologist.
Now it’s time for the ABC’ s of skin cancer detection. Any one of the following signs is reason for concern about malignant potential in a nevus and could be the first sign of melanoma:
Asymmetrical growth
Irregular border
Variations in color
Diameter larger than a pencil eraser
Evolving (new look or new symptoms)
The accompanying pictures of melanoma are purposefully horrific to illustrate their respective point. Keep in mind that melanoma doesn’t have to look “that bad.” If you have any mole that makes you worry, see a dermatologist.
Early detection is important with skin cancer. I strip for my dermatologist every year and you should, too. If a dermatologist hasn’t seen your back in a couple summers, it’s time to go back!
Feel free to pass this blog on to anybody whose back you want to cover.
