Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that affects your melanocytes. These are cells that produce color which defines your hair, skin, and eyes. Melanoma mostly occurs on the skin and rarely on the mouth, intestines, and eyes.

Since melanoma is a skin cancer, it is quite easy to recognize and detect the presence of a tumor early. You should always get abnormal moles and marks checked.

Early symptoms of melanoma
The first appearance of melanoma is just a fresh new spot on your skin or the change in size and shape of an already existing mark.

Follow the ABCDE rule to notice symptoms of melanoma.

• A – Asymmetry: The mark is not of perfect shape. It has a weird or abnormal size or shape.
• B – Border : The border of the mark is extremely noticeable because it’s jagged, irregular, or notched.
• C – Color : The color of the mark is not constant throughout. It has a shading effect on it or it is way too dark. It may also occur with patches of red, white, pink or blue marks.
• D – Diameter : The spot is extremely large at the size of an eraser. It may have a diameter of about six millimeters. However, malignant marks may be smaller too.
• E – Elevation : Change in size, texture, etc

Later symptoms of melanoma

• A sore mark or wound that does not heal over a long period of time.
• Spreading of the pigment from the border of the mark to the surrounding skin cells.
• Inflammation, redness, and itchiness beyond the border of the mark.
• A mark that didn’t hurt before, suddenly starts itching, feeling tender, or becomes painful.

Causes of melanoma

• Melanoma occurs when an irregular mass of cells starts developing abnormally on your melanocytes.
• Normally, skin cells divide and multiply in an orderly fashion. When new cells develop, they push the older ones on top which eventually grow old and die. When there is certain DNA damage in the healthy cells, they grow uncontrollably and form a cancerous mass.
• It occurs due to a variety of reasons including genetics, overexposure to direct sunlight, tanning beds, etc.

Stages of melanoma

• Stage 0: The cancer is present on the outer part of your skin. This is called “melanoma in situ”
• Stage 1: There is a significant increase in the size of cancer. It is about two millimeters in diameter.
• Stage 2: The thickness of the tumor lies between two millimeters and four millimeters. It has not yet spread to any other part of the body or the lymph nodes.
• Stage 3: The tumor has spread to a few lymph nodes and neighboring cells but hasn’t spread to distant sites of the body yet.
• Stage 4: The cancer cells have spread to distant vital organs like the brain, liver, lungs, etc.

All of the mentioned symptoms are merely concerns. You can only be fully sure of the condition if a dermatologist confirms it. Melanomas can occur in the most insignificant areas and in places you’d barely look. Therefore, it is important to get these marks checked if it catches your attention.