Is melanoma the deadliest cancer
This is one question you can’t expect a person who has passed his or her stage of survival to answer.
The truth is, you better be dead when it reaches its later stages.
One fact you can’t do away with is, just like any other type of cancer it can kill.
The good news is, with some little knowledge on how to deal with it, you can stop it before it causes more than enough damage.
In this article, I will take you through a brief overview of some of the reasons melanoma can fit among the top deadliest cancer types.
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WHAT IS MELANOMA AND WHAT MAKES IT DANGEROUS?
Melanoma is simply a malignant tumour related to the anomalous growth of melanin cells.
It occurs when the damage to your skin cells caused by unrepaired DNA stimulates genetic defects.
This, in turn, causes the skin cells to multiply rapidly hence forming malignant tumors that originate in the melanocytes found in the epidermis basal layer.
Any change in skin tone, wounds that don’t easily heal, increase in the number of moles and more should be considered as some of the alarming signs to watch out for.
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STATISTICS
As you can see, apart from the location it attacks which is your skin’s melanocytes, it is indifferent from most cancer types.
It involve malignant growths and most importantly, it can kill. Comparing by statistics, it is the most common skin cancer that has a higher mortality rate.
According to American Cancer Society, approximately, 46, 870 men and 29, 510 women will be diagnosed with melanoma in the year 2016.
Out of the people diagnosed, about 10,130 patients are expected to die that is quite high compared to previous year’s statistics.
It is also realized that it is common in whites than in blacks.
About 1 out of 40 for whites and 1 out of 1000 for blacks. Research findings show that, that it is common in the old age than in the young age, meaning that one needs to be me cautious when he or she is aging.
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REASON MELANOMA IS CONSIDERED DEADLY
Any cancer if left uncured will finally and melanoma cancer isn’t an exception.
Some of the reasons patients die include, failure to notice it earlier or inability to cater for the required medical bills.
Another thing that makes it deadly is the fact that you can confuse it with other common skin complications such as sunburns, healing wounds and more.
However, it still doesn’t stand a chance to be the top deadliest cancer of all times for several reasons.
One of them is that, unlike lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and more, the early melanoma symptoms are clearly, meaning that you stand the chance to survive it when noted earlier.
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FINAL VERDICT
Is melanoma the deadliest cancer? As mentioned earlier, it can kill just like any other type of cancer but, only if not realised and treated earlier.
However, when compared to other cancer types, we realize that it isn’t the most common type of cancer.
Another fact is that it doesn’t claim more lives than Lung, Colon, Breasts cancer and more, meaning that it isn’t the deadliest, One fact remains that it is one of the most deadliest skin cancer tp watch out for. .