By JAMI CUSTER
Reporter

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Melanoma is the third most common type of skin cancer regardless of sex and ethnicity, and it is also the type that causes the most deaths. It is the most serious form of skin cancer, but like anything else, if treated early it can be cured.

According to www.skincancer.org, nearly 120,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The site states that UV light and heredity play a role in causing melanoma in Caucasians, but the main reason for the large numbers among people of color is unknown. 

Regardless of sex and skin color, Cherokee Nation Medical Director of Quality Management Dr. John Krueger said it is important to take every precaution possible when exposed to the sun.

He added melanoma originates in melanocytes in the skin which are pigment-producing cells in the skin, hair and eye that determines their color.

“Melanin is something that gives us our pigment,” he said. “Normally when we’re looking at skin lesions what we tell the population, what we want our patients to be aware of is there’s five things.”

Things he suggests for patients to look for when looking at moles or spots are asymmetry, borders of the spots, their color, whether their size is greater than six millimeters, their elevation and flatness, their firmness and their growth.

“There is no hard and fast rule (to melanoma),” he said. “We’re getting better, there’s methods to tell what lesions are without having to cut it out or biopsy that involves cutting, but realistically that biopsy is still the number one way we use besides just visual inspections.”

He added that most skin lesions are not melanoma.

“They’re just not, although we are diagnosing many, many more people at much younger ages today. It’s felt that things like tanning booths, over tanning or excessive sun exposure and maybe even diet may play a role … we really don’t know,” Krueger said.

The majority of melanomas are black or brown, but often they can also be skin-colored, pink, red, purple, blue or white. They are also quite common in other parts of the body aside from the skin.
“You can get melanoma anywhere. It can form in your GI tract where you can never see it. It can form in the back of your eye or under your nails,” he said. 

There are several warning signs to look for in spots or lesions on the body, according to skincancer.org:

•A skin growth that increases in size and appears pearly, translucent, tan, brown, black, or multicolored.
 •A mole, birthmark, beauty mark, or any brown spot that changes color, increases in size or thickness, changes in texture, is irregular in outline, is bigger than 6mm, or appears after age 21.
•A spot or sore that continues to itch, hurt, crust, scab, erode or bleed.
•An open sore that does not heal within three weeks.

Krueger said it is important to keep an eye on any changes one might see and if there is concern, at all, he or she should visit their primary care physician.

“The best advice I have as a clinician is if you can have somebody look at your body on a regular basis at home and kind of write down where you have prominent moles or areas of your body and they look abnormal or you just don’t know if they look abnormal go and have the doctor take a look at them,” he said.

The most important thing to remember regarding sun exposure is protection. There are several lists of products including clothing, sun blocks, sunless tanning lotions and makeup that are approved by the Skin Cancer Foundation. For a complete list of the products visit http://www.skincancer.org.

jami-custer@cherokee.org • 918-453-5560