the.com/melanoma
A dangerous skin cancer that can spread quickly if not found and treated early.
means A cancer that starts in melanocytes, the pigment-making cells in your skin (or sometimes eyes), and can spread aggressively if not caught early.
from From Greek *melas* ('black, dark') plus the medical suffix *-oma* ('tumor, swelling'), the same root that gives us 'melanin' and 'melancholy' (literally 'black bile'). Doctors bolted the two together in the 1800s to name tumors of pigment cells — a plainly descriptive label for something that, true to its name, usually shows up dark.
- deadliest skin cancer
- causes most skin cancer deaths despite being rarer type
- abcde rule
- asymmetry, border, color, diameter, evolving — check all five
- hides anywhere
- can grow under nails, in eyes, even where sun never hits
- early catch wins
- caught early, survival rate exceeds 99 percent