Melanoma Skin Cancer Rates Hit An All-Time High in the UK

by Harry A

Recently, it has been reported that rates of melanoma skin cancer have hit an all-time high in the UK.

Melanoma, also called malignant melanoma, is the most invasive skin cancer with the highest risk of death. While it’s a serious skin cancer, it's highly curable if caught early. It's often caused by too much sun exposure, mainly sudden intense exposure which leads to sunburn. In the UK, too much ultraviolet radiation (sun or sun beds) causes 85% of melanoma. It develops from skin cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes are found in the deepest part of the top layer of skin, called the basal layer.

Melanoma skin cancer is the 5th most common cancer overall in the UK. The number of people diagnosed with melanoma in the UK has increased over the last few decades and it continues to rise. Cancer Research UK predicts there will be a record 20,800 cases diagnosed this year, up from a yearly average of 19,300 in previous years. The rise in diagnosis is the result of increased exposure to intense sunlight usually while on holiday abroad, but also partly to a growing ageing population and an increase in awareness of the signs of skin cancer.

The risk of melanoma increases with age, around 30% are aged 75 years or over. But it's also becoming common in younger people.

SIGNS OF MELANOMA 

The first sign of melanoma is often an appearance of a new mole or a change in the appearance of an existing mole such as an increase in size or change of colour. The signs of melanoma can be summed up in ABCDE list: 

A - asymmetrical

Melanomas have an uneven shape. The two halves of the lesion are usually asymmetrical with different shapes and sizes 

B - border

Melanomas have irregular, blurry or jagged border (edges), unlike normal moles that usually have a smooth, regular border.

C - colour

Melanomas are usually an uneven colour and contain more than one shade of black, brown and pink, unlike normal moles that have even colour. 

D - diameter

Most melanomas are more than 6mm wide. But they can be smaller if diagnosed early.

Normal moles are usually smaller than 5mm.

E - evolving

This refers to changing in size, shape, colour or symptoms such as bleeding, itching, a change in sensation to a mole, becoming crusty.

TYPES OF MELANOMA

There are three main types of melanoma :

Superficial spreading melanoma 

Superficial spreading melanoma tends to start growing across the skin before growing deeper down into it.

It's the most common type of melanoma with 80% of people having this type.

It can develop anywhere on the body. It is most common on the central part of the body in men and on the legs in women.

Nodular melanoma 

Nodular melanomas tend to grow very quickly downwards into the deeper layers of skin. There is often a raised area on the skin surface with this type of melanoma.

It's the second most common type of melanoma with 9%- 15%of people having it.. It's most often diagnosed in people in their 40’s and 50's and can develop on any part of the body.

Lentigo maligna melanoma 

These melanomas develop from very slow growing coloured patches of skin. Doctors call these patches lentigo maligna or Hutchinson's melanotic freckle. 

A lentigo maligna is flat and grows outwards in the surface layers of the skin. It might slowly get bigger over several years and might change shape or colour. When it becomes a lentigo maligna melanoma, it starts to grow down into the deeper layers of the skin. It may also form lumps called nodules.

It affects between 5% and 15% of patients. It's most common in people older than 60 years. They appear in areas of skin that get a lot of sun exposure, so are most common on the head and neck. They are also more common in people who have spent a lot of time in the sun.

DIAGNOSIS:

Diagnosis is by doing a biopsy.

Also additional exams, such as PET scans, CT scans, MRIs and blood tests are done so your doctor can fully understand the extent of melanoma.

TREATMENT OF MELANOMA 

Melanoma can usually be treated with surgery if it's diagnosed early. The lesion is usually removed with a 2 mm margin of normal skin surrounding. If melanoma has spread to other parts of the body, on top of surgery usually other treatments are needed such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, laser therapy or cryotherapy depending on where the metastatic lesions are. 

The survival rates depend on how much melanoma has spread before being diagnosed. According to Melanoma Research Alliance, 5 year’s survival rate for localised melanoma is 98.4%, for regional melanoma it is 63.6% and for metastatic melanoma it is 22.5%, so the quicker melanoma is diagnosed and treated, the better the survival rate.