LATEST MELANOMA NEWS

Building Bridges to Conquer Cancer

This year’s American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting was in Chicago May 31 - June 4 2013. The Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA) team is energized by the progress reported during what more than one participant has dubbed “the Melanoma ASCO.”

The ASCO meeting is the premier annual meeting bringing together approximately 30,000 of the world’s clinicians, scientists, non-profits and companies focused on every aspect of oncology

In the days before ASCO, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two new drugs for advanced, metastatic melanoma patients with activating mutations of BRAF.  These two drugs from GlaxoSmithKline are known as dabrafenib (Tafinlar®) and trametinib (Mekinist®).  This brings the number of new drugs approved for melanoma patients to a total of four over the last two years with ipilimumab (Yervoy®, ipi) and vemurafenib (Zelboraf®) approved in 2011 an exceptional number of drugs to be approved for a disease in a very compressed period of time, especially where so few options had previously been available.

The progress that has been made with melanoma In the past seven years since Emily's death has been very encouraging. There is still more work that lies ahead and we hope that in the not to distant future we will reach the day when no one suffers or dies from melanoma. Read more from MRA report

SUN EFFECTS BOOTH app

This app shows how your current behaviour in the sun can damage your face in the future. By downloading the app, you will see the potential aging and damage done to your skin. Read more

CAUSES AND RISK FACTORS OF MELANOMA

Melanoma and other skin cancers generally develop because of too much exposure to UV radiation. Each time unprotected skin is exposed to the sun's UV radiation or other sources of UV radiation, such as solarium's, changes take place in the structure of the cells. Too much UV radiation causes the skin to become permanently damaged. The damage increases with each exposure. Repeated bouts of sunburn, particularly during childhood, greatly increase the chance of getting melanoma.

UNDERSTANDING SKIN CANCER   

What are Sunspots?

Sunspots (solar keratoses, actinic keratoses) are premalignant skin lesions ie. may turn into skin cancer at a later time. They are caused by excessive long-term sun exposure. They are seen as relatively flat, scaly, and often red areas on sun-exposed skin. The sun exposure causing your sunspots may have occurred many years prior to their appearance. You don't need to have recent sun exposure to get sun spots!

Why do they need treatment?

While sunspots are not cancerous they can turn into skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma). While the potential for a single sunspot to turn cancerous is low, the more you have the more likely you are to get skin cancer. Once skin cancer has arisen from a sunspot the lesion usually requires surgical excision.

How are they treated?

The treatment involves only superficial destructive procedures. The most common treatment is cryotherapy. This therapy involves liquid nitrogen freezing which results in destruction of the top layer of your skin - the epidermis. There are also some creams which are effective in removing sunspots.