Skin Cancer, Melanoma

What is melanoma?

Melanoma is a kind of skin cancer. It is not as common as other types of skin cancer, but it is the most serious.

Melanoma can affect your skin only, or it may spread to your organs and bones. Luckily, it can be cured if it’s found and treated early.

What causes melanoma?

You can get melanoma by spending too much time in the sun. This causes normal skin cells to become abnormal. These abnormal cells quickly grow out of control and attack the tissues around them.

Melanoma tends to run in families. Other things in your family background can increase your chances of getting the disease. For example, you may have abnormal, or atypical, moles. Atypical moles may fade into the skin and have a flat part that is level with the skin. They may be smooth or slightly scaly, or they may look rough and “pebbly.” These moles don't cause cancer by themselves. But having many of them is a sign that melanoma may run in your family.

What are the symptoms?

The main sign of melanoma is a change in a mole or other skin growth, such as a birthmark. Any change in the shape, size, or color of a mole may be a sign of melanoma.

Melanoma may grow in a mole or birthmark that you already have. But melanomas usually grow in unmarked skin. They can be found anywhere on your body. Most of the time, they are on the upper back in men and women and on the legs of women.

Melanoma looks like a flat, brown or black mole that has uneven edges. Melanomas usually have an irregular or asymmetrical shape. This means that one half of the mole doesn't match the other half. Melanoma moles or marks can be 6 mm (0.2 in.) or larger.

Unlike a normal mole or mark, a melanoma can:

• Change color.
• Be lumpy or rounded.
• Become crusty, ooze, or bleed.

How is melanoma diagnosed?

Your doctor will check your skin to look for melanoma. If your doctor thinks you have melanoma, he or she will remove a sample of tissue from the area around the melanoma (biopsy). Another doctor, called a pathologist, will look at the tissue to check for cancer cells.

If your biopsy shows melanoma, you may need to have more tests to find out if it has spread to your lymph nodes.

How is it treated?

The most common treatment is surgery to remove the melanoma. That is all the treatment that you may need for early-stage melanomas that have not spread to other parts of your body.

Depending on where the melanoma is on your body, and how thick it is, the surgery to remove it may leave a scar. You might need another surgery to repair this scar.

After surgery, your doctor will want to see you every 3 to 6 months for the next 5 years. During these visits, your doctor will check to see if the cancer has returned and if you have any new melanomas.

If your melanoma is very deep or has spread to your lymph nodes, you may need medicine called interferon to fight the cancer cells.

Can you prevent melanoma?

The best way to prevent all kinds of skin cancer, including melanoma, is to protect yourself whenever you are out in the sun. It’s important to avoid exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays.

• Try to stay out of the sun during the middle of the day (from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
• Wear protective clothes when you are outside, such as a hat that shades your face, a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants.
• Get in the habit of using sunscreen every day. Your sunscreen should have an SPF of least 15. Look for a sunscreen that protects against both types of UV radiation in the sun's rays—UVA and UVB.
• Use a higher SPF when you are at higher elevations.
• Avoid sunbathing and tanning salons.

Check your skin every month for odd marks, moles, or sores that will not heal. Pay extra attention to areas that get a lot of sun, such as your hands, arms, and back. Ask your doctor to check your skin during regular physical exams or at least once a year. Even though the biggest cause of melanoma is spending too much time in the sun, it can be found on parts of your body that never see the sun.

Healing Touch

What is healing touch?

Healing touch influences a person's physical or emotional health without anyone physically touching the person. Healing touch is a common practice. Healing touch is related to spiritual or energy healing, therapeutic touch, and distant healing.

In the 1970s, nurses developed a specific form of healing touch called therapeutic touch to provide a more holistic (viewing the body and mind as a whole, not as individual components), compassionate approach to healing. Many nursing schools in the United States teach therapeutic touch, and it is often used in conventional medical settings (for example, before and after surgery) to help comfort patients.

Central to healing touch is the belief that a vital energy or life force flows freely through space and sustains all living organisms. In a healthy person, this energy is thought to flow in and out of the body in a balanced way. It is believed that illness results when the energy flow is out of balance.

Practitioners of healing touch use their hands in an attempt to change a person's energy flow and restore health. Healing touch does not require contact between the practitioner and the person during treatment. The practitioner moves his or her hands several inches above the person's body.

Like other complementary medicines, healing touch starts with the idea that people are naturally healthy. The way people live and think may disturb their natural energy, and they may become ill. The aim of healing touch is to focus (or channel) healing energy to restore natural health.

What is healing touch used for?

People use healing touch to help treat many diseases. Supporters of healing touch believe it is especially helpful for healing wounds, curing infections, and relieving pain and anxiety. Some research studies have shown that, like yoga and meditation, healing touch reduces anxiety and stress.

Little research has been done on the effects of healing touch, and it is a difficult form of therapy to study using traditional scientific techniques. But some studies on distant healing show benefits.

Is healing touch safe?

You can safely use healing touch along with conventional medical treatments, but it is not considered appropriate or safe for serious, life-threatening situations or to replace other proven treatments that are known to help with a disease. There is no known risk in adding healing touch or distant healing to your medical treatment.

Always tell your doctor if you are using an alternative therapy or if you are thinking about combining an alternative therapy with your conventional medical treatment. It may not be safe to forgo your conventional medical treatment and rely only on an alternative therapy.

Complementary Medicine

What is complementary medicine?

Complementary medicine is a term used for a wide variety of health care practices that may be used along with standard medical treatment.

People often use yoga, meditation, and other complementary practices to improve wellness and quality of life. But in recent years, more people in the United States have been turning to complementary medicine to help treat a wide range of conditions from hot flashes to high blood pressure. Other examples of complementary medicine include acupuncture, herbal remedies, naturopathic medicine, massage therapy, and light therapy.

Is research being done on complementary medicine?

Even though most complementary therapies and medicines have been in use for hundreds or even thousands of years, many have not been subject to the same rigorous scientific testing for safety and effectiveness that standard medical treatments go through before they are approved in the United States. In many cases, the very nature of a complementary therapy, such as music therapy or prayer, can make it difficult or impossible to evaluate by the same scientific methods or criteria.

But more research is being done on complementary therapies. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and other offices of the National Institutes of Health provide information to the public and to health professionals on the use and effectiveness of complementary medicine therapies. NCCAM's goal is to develop guidelines to help people choose safe and appropriate alternative and complementary therapies.

Should I use complementary medicine?

Before you use complementary medicine, think about what motivates you. Why are you considering complementary medicine? Are you looking for a cure? Or are you looking for greater comfort and improved quality of life? Seeking a "cure" through complementary medicine alone can be disappointing. Set realistic expectations, and beware of false or exaggerated claims. Many complementary therapies can improve health and quality of life, but if a medicine or therapy sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Choose a primary doctor who is open-minded about using complementary medicine. Consult your primary doctor for help in making decisions about using complementary therapies.

What are the risks of complementary medicine?

Even though facilities, medicines, and practitioners of conventional medicine are closely monitored and regulated in the United States, complementary medicines and therapies may be subject to less testing and regulation. Many practitioners of complementary therapies are extensively educated in their field, but depending on where they practice, it may be difficult to know whether practitioners are experts in their fields.

One risk involved with using alternative medicine is that you might miss a necessary or possibly lifesaving treatment. For example, you might try to treat cancer with an unproven complementary therapy instead of using a conventional treatment such as surgery or chemotherapy that is known to help. It is always best to get as much information as possible—on both complementary and conventional treatments—and then discuss your options with a doctor who is open to discussing them.

It is also important to remember that just because a product is natural does not mean it is harmless. There have been a few serious problems—and, in some cases, deaths—resulting from taking complementary medicines. Also, some complementary therapies have the potential for dangerous interactions with conventional therapies. Be sure to tell your doctor about any complementary therapies you are using or are thinking of using.

What are the benefits of complementary medicine?

Some complementary therapies work as well as conventional therapies. They often cost less and have fewer side effects. For example, acupuncture can reduce arthritis pain with fewer side effects than medicines, and St. John's wort has recently been shown to treat mild to moderate depression as well as a commonly prescribed antidepressant medicine while causing fewer side effects.

Another benefit of complementary medicine is in the more holistic, "whole person" approach of many of its practitioners. Most complementary medicine practitioners and many medical doctors use this approach, which considers your lifestyle, background, and habits, in addition to your physical health. It provides a more complete health picture and more effective way to treat many diseases. This personal approach makes many people feel better about their practitioner, their treatment, and their medical condition.

A person who uses a complementary therapy often benefits from a sense of empowerment. In seeking care outside conventional medicine, you are taking a more active role in your health care that can make you feel more in control of your health.

Science has shown that your emotional state can affect your health. Many people respond well to complementary treatments because they often address your sense of well-being as well as the condition itself.