That does not mean, however, that sunbathing poses a minimal risk of developing melanoma. Researchers say that ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation, the rays in sunlight that reach the deeper layers of skin and are associated with signs of aging, can damage the DNA in melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells... 

Malignant melanoma is the most serious type of cancer of the skin. Each year in the United States, more than 53,600 people learn that they have malignant melanoma. In some parts of the world, especially among Western countries, malignant melanoma is becoming more common every year. In the United ... 

Helen M. Shaw, Michael J. Quinn, Richard A. Scolyer, John F. Thompson The Sydney Melanoma Unit, Camperdown, Australia To the Editor: The clinical and biologic behavior of desmoplastic melanoma (DM) is a subject of great relevance to those involved in the management of melanoma patients. We therefore... 

Lymph node status is the most reliable prognostic indicator for patients with melanoma and breast cancer. Because it is the first node draining the primary cancer, the sentinel lymph node (SLN) is most likely to harbor metastatic cancer cells. The Breslow thickness of the primary melanoma and the size... 

The outer layer of skin, the epidermis, is made up of different types of cells. Skin cancers are classified by the types of epidermal cells involved: —      Basal cell carcinoma develops from abnormal growth of the cells in the lowest layer of the epidermis and is the most common type of skin... 

These days it’s not only the suspicious stranger lurking behind your back that you have to watch. In the United States, you are more likely to run into trouble from a melanoma on your back, the most common location of this potentially deadly skin cancer. Each year over a million people in the United... 

A quick method of testing for the presence of melanoma skin cancer cells in special lymph nodes called ’sentinel lymph nodes,’ developed at the Medical College of Wisconsin, allows surgeons to get results while the patient is still on the operating table. In most cases, this will eliminate... 

Surgical removal is the mainstay of therapy for both basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. For more information, see Surgery. People who cannot undergo surgery may be treated by external radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is the use of a small beam of radiation targeted at the skin lesion. The... 

Background Exposure to ultraviolet light is a major causative factor in melanoma, although the relationship between risk and exposure is complex. We hypothesized that the clinical heterogeneity is explained by genetically distinct types of melanoma with different susceptibility to ultraviolet light.... 

Unorthodox Strategy: New cancer vaccine may thwart melanoma Nathan Seppa Efforts to enlist the immune system in the fight against cancer have generally yielded disappointing results. Scientists have yet to create a so-called cancer vaccine that reliably primes the immune system to recognize malignant...