Why You Should Not Ignore An Unusual Spot, Growth, or Pigmentation on Your Skin

Not so many people attest to going to a specialist for skin screening. You are likely to assume a new spot or a unique pigmentation on your skin, hoping it will fade off on its own. Chevy Chase melanoma specialist Dr. Hendi advises his patients to get their skin assessed for severe skin conditions like melanoma. This expert provides his patients with advanced skin cancer detection techniques and surgeries to prevent the cancers from spreading. Melanoma is rare. However, when it starts, it rapidly spreads to several parts of your body including your eyes, mouth, and genitals.

An expert dermatologist will also suggest you show your care provider any unusual mole because it is challenging to identify melanoma from other cancerous growths on your skin surface.   

What is melanoma and how do you get the skin condition?

Though melanoma is a rare skin condition that accounts for approximately one percent of skin cancers, it is one of skin cancer’s serious types. Melanoma develops in your melanocytes, the cells responsible for producing melanin (the pigment giving you skin color). The exact causes of the skin condition are not clear. However, tanning beds and lamps and exposure to the sun’s destructive UV radiation will likely increase your chances of having melanoma.

The good news is that you will minimize your melanoma risks if you lessen the time you spend exposed to the UV rays. Additionally, your doctor can successfully treat the condition, rid you of its symptoms and prevent it from spreading when he detects it early.

What are the signs that you could be having melanoma?

You will develop this condition on any part of your body, mostly on your parts exposed to the sun like the arms, legs, face, and back. Unfortunately, melanoma can also develop on some body parts you rarely expose to the sun, like feet soles, genitals, or the palm of your hand. Your risks of these hidden melanomas are high if you have a darker skin tone.

You should suspect you are developing melanoma when:

·         You notice changes in your existing mole or moles. Your normal moles usually have color uniformity. They can either be black, tan, or brown, with a defined border separating them from your skin. The moles can either be round or oval with a diameter smaller than a quarter an inch. 

·         You start developing a unique pigmented or weird-looking growth appearing on your skin surface.

How will your doctor treat the skin condition?

The specialist will design a plan depending on your melanoma stage. Melanomas in their early stages require a surgical procedure to remove the cancerous cells. However, your doctor will combine surgery and other treatment options on advanced melanomas.   

Melanoma begins like a new spot on your skin surface or a spot with an altering shape, size, or color. It can also create an unusual patch on your skin, usually a different-looking patch than other growths you could be having, like moles. Get in touch immediately with the specialists, schedule an appointment and get the experts to treat the skin condition before it spreads to other parts of your body.