Melanoma Fund

Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that occurs in melanocytes. These are the cells that make melanin, which gives skin its colour. Melanin also protects the deeper layers of the skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it can spread to other parts of the body through the lymph system or the blood and early diagnosis is vital.

Melanoma can present itself as a mole, freckle or birthmark that changes in colour or increases in size or texture, bleeds or has a persistent itch. These changes are normally noticed over a period of several weeks or months rather than days. If this rings bells, book an appointment to see your GP as soon as possible.

Any race or skin colour can get melanoma, however the most at risk are people with:

• Fair white, freckled skin (and particularly red heads)
• Lot of moles, especially larger and more irregular moles called the ‘dysplastic ​naevi syndrome’
• A family history of melanoma; which doubles the risk

Melanoma grows deeper into the skin; the deeper it gets the more dangerous it becomes, which is why early detection is so important. As it progresses, cells break free and get into the tissue fluid channels (lymphatics) and are swept up to the ‘draining lymph nodes’ where the cells can take hold. These are sited in the groin, armpits and neck; the positioning of the melanoma will depend on which node will be affected.

Although more common on the back, arms and legs, melanoma can appear anywhere on the body, including those areas not exposed to the sun. There are rare forms of melanoma which can occur in the mouth, the retina, or an internal organ, without anything being visible on the skin.

Most common places for melanoma on men:

• Head
• Back
• Neck
• Trunk

Most common places for melanoma on women:

• Arms
• Legs

It is recommended that everyone should check their skin monthly, and if possible, back this up by booking an annual check with a professional. If you are in a high-risk category, you will need to increase this, however your GP will advise you on the best option for you.

Skin cancer is the most common, and melanoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in the UK. Rates of melanoma have more than doubled in the UK in the last 30 years, with incidence in women having doubled (100% increase) and for men nearly tripled (181%). It is one of our fastest rising cancers, and although still higher in older people, rates in 25-49 year olds increased by 70% over the same period*. Global cases will reach nearly half a million (466,914) by 2040, an increase of 62% on 2018 figures.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) is the only known environmental risk factor for developing melanoma of the skin.

The “ABCDE” is a helpful way that you can determine the need for additional evaluation, especially useful when self-checking:

• Asymmetry – one half of the spot does not match the other
• Border Irregularity – the edges are uneven or blurred
• Colour – the colour is uneven or has shades of different colours
• Diameter – the area is more than five millimetres in size (about the size of a pencil eraser)
• Evolving – changing in any way including bleeding, itching or appearance

Yes, so it is important to watch for any changes in the appearance of these moles, and get any concerns checked by your GP. People with more than 100 moles have a seven-fold greater risk of developing melanoma than those with fewer moles. Having multiple moles or nevi is a higher risk factor for melanoma than having light-coloured hair and fair skin.

Yes and some are more common than others. The most common form is called superficial spreading melanoma, which tends to enlarge gradually on the surface of the skin before growing into deeper layers of skin.

Others include:

• Nodular melanoma: These are invasive (growing into deeper layers of skin) soon after they appear on the skin
• Acral-lentiginous melanoma: This is the most common type of melanoma in dark-skinned individuals. It appears on the palms, nail beds, soles of the feet, mucous membranes, and penis
• Lentigo maligna melanoma: Most cases arise in adults, primarily in the head and neck region. It is a slow growing form that can take many years before becoming invasive (growing into deeper layers of skin)
• Amelanotic melanoma: These are rare and appear without pigmentation making them difficult to diagnose, however they still show changes in symmetry, borders, and size

If concerned, your GP will refer you to a specialist who will make a definitive diagnosis following an excisional biopsy. This is a procedure that removes the mole and a margin of tissue surrounding it, or with a “punch” biopsy if it is large, or in an awkward area of the body to reach.
A pathologist will look at the sample under a microscope and determine if the cells are cancerous. The biopsy sample allows the pathologist to determine the stage of disease, upon which treatment decisions are then made.

Staging is a method that clinicians use to categorise melanoma for the purpose of evaluation, treatment, and prognosis.

• Stage I & II: Melanoma is confined to the site where the cancer occurred and has not spread to the lymph nodes or internal organs
• Stage III: Melanoma has spread to the lymph nodes
• Stage IV: Melanoma has spread to distant organs (metastasis)

Treatment decisions are based on the location and stage of the tumour, and factors specific to the individual patient.

These could include:

• Surgery – including wide margin removal and reconstruction of the tumour site, sentinel lymph node biopsy, removal of lymph nodes or metastases
• Chemotherapy/immunotherapy
• Intralesional/injectable therapy
• Radiation therapy
• Surveillance
• Clinical trials

Like many other types of cancer, melanoma is potentially curable when caught at an early stage. Once you have had melanoma however, you are at a higher risk than the general population of developing a new primary melanoma, as well as a recurrence of the original melanoma. Your GP will therefore ensure you have a regular check-up and long-lasting skin health surveillance.

Around five and 10-year survival rates for early-stage disease approach 90 percent and higher. Those survival rates gradually go down when the disease becomes more advanced. Your GP is best positioned to answer your questions based on the stage of melanoma you have.

This is a common question for patients with melanoma. The risk of developing a second primary melanoma is higher than the risk of people in the general population developing a first melanoma. Unfortunately, once you have had melanoma, you are also at risk of recurrence of the original cancer.

There are genetic variants or gene mutations, that make some individuals prone to developing melanoma. Individuals with these mutations have a strong family history of melanoma and carry a 60 to 90 percent lifetime risk of developing the disease.

The types of personal information collected might include name, date of birth, email address, postal address, telephone number and credit/debit card details; we can also collect your opinions about a product, events, service or a melanoma/medical related issue.

We collect the following information from people visiting the website:

• Questions, queries and feedback you leave, including your email address if you send us an email
• Your IP address and which web browser (and version) you use
• Information on how people use the site, using cookies and page tagging, to help us improve the website and our services
• If you send us feedback, your message will be kept

All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Payment transactions are encrypted.

The transmission of information over the internet is never completely secure. We’ll do our best to protect your personal data, but cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. We use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

We will use your personal information to provide you with the services, products or information you have requested, for administration purposes and to further our charitable aims, including for fundraising activities. We may need to share your information with our service providers, associated organisations and agents for these purposes.

We will use your personal information for our own marketing purposes unless you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. We will not sell or share your personal information or allow any other organisation to use it

Any information we collect is used to:

• Improve the content and design of the website
• Let you use interactive features, when you choose to do so
• Contact you, with your permission

We never share your information with other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your personal information to any other website.

Melanoma Fund acts upon your choices as to the types of communication you want to receive and how you want to receive them. There are however some communication that needs to happen regardless of your marketing preferences in order to fulfil our promises to you as buyer of goods or services from the charity.

Examples of this type of communication are:

• Financial transaction notification messages
• Acknowledgment of booking at events
• Confirmation of donations

You can choose how Melanoma Fund communicates with you. You may update your preferences by emailing us or by writing to us at the links below, or by responding directly via a communication you have received from us.

Melanoma Fund will keep personal data only for as long as is necessary. We will review the retention of data records on a regular basis to ensure that they remain accurate and relevant. Records will be updated, securely deleted or archived when it is no longer appropriate to keep them.

Cookies are small pieces of data (text files) that are placed on your computer or device by websites that you visit or applications you use. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites and applications work, or work more efficiently, and help them remember certain information about you, either for the duration of your visit (using a “session” cookie) or for repeat visits (using a “persistent” cookie).

Below provides an overview of the first and third party cookies we use within our Services. Our Services are scanned with our cookie scanning tool regularly to maintain a list as accurate as possible. We classify cookies in the following categories:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies
• Functional Cookies
• Performance Cookies

The categories of cookies used on this website are as follows:

• Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies do not store any directly identifiable information. However, they are necessary for the Service to function. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but without these cookies, some or all of the services you have asked for may not function properly.
• Performance cookies: These are analytics and research cookies that allow us to count visits and measure traffic, so we can measure and improve the performance of our Services. They also help us to know which pages are the most and least popular, and see how visitors move around the site or application. This helps us to improve the way our Services work and improve user experience. All information collected through these cookies will be processed in an aggregated and anonymous form. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies. Blocking these cookies will not affect the service provided you.
• Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our Services to provide enhanced functionality and personalization such as remembering the choices you make and your account preferences and to provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but without these cookies, some or all of the services you have asked for may not function properly.

Information that you submit in a registration or enquiry form is encrypted and stored on a secure server. We also use encryption and a secure server when you make a donation via our website. However, the transmission of information over the Internet is never 100% secure so while we try to protect your personal information, we can’t guarantee the security of any information you submit to us via our website.

We also take appropriate measures to ensure that the information we receive is kept secure, accurate and up to date and kept only for so long as is necessary for the purposes for which it is used. All access to our secure server is restricted only to authorised staff.

If you enter your postal address or phone number into any of our online forms, we may use these details to contact you, unless you ask us not to. If you have given us your postal address or phone number and would prefer not to be contacted by these means, please state this on the form where applicable.

Melanoma Fund may need to disclose your information if required to do so by law or in response to a court order.

By providing us with your personal information you consent to the collection and use of that information for the purposes and in the manner described in this Privacy Notice and Disclaimer.

Our website may include links to websites run by other organisations. Melanoma Fund is not responsible for the privacy practices of other organisations’ websites so you should read their privacy policies carefully.

This site contains links to and from other organisations’ websites. This privacy policy, the one you’re reading, only applies to our website.

If you go to another website from this one, read their privacy policy to find out what it does with your information.

When you come to our website from another website, we may get personal information about you from the other website. Read those websites’ privacy policies if you want to know about this.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies in your information corrected. If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us on the links below.

Under the Data Protection Act you have the right to:

• Ask us not to process your personal data
• See information we hold about you
• Ask for inaccurate personal data to be corrected

For a copy of the personal information we hold about you, write to: Harry Townsend, 6 Manor Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1LR. When we are satisfied of your identity we will send you a copy of your personal information that we are legally required to disclose. We may ask you to pay a fee.

Please contact us at the same address if you believe that information we hold about you is inaccurate and want it to be corrected.

Melanoma Fund reserves the right to amend this privacy statement. The most up to date version will be always be available on our websites so please check from time to time, continuing to use our websites you will be deemed to have accepted any changes. If you have queries about any information on this page, please contact us on the links below.

The content on this website is provided by Melanoma Fund for general information purposes only. Whilst we have endeavoured to ensure the accuracy of the information and keep it up to date, we make no guarantee or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any information or material on our website. Any reliance you place on such information or material is entirely at your own risk.

Melanoma Fund has no control over, or responsibility for, the content, nature or availability of any website to which our website is linked, nor do such links necessarily imply our endorsement or recommendation of the information or views they express. You use such websites entirely at your own risk.

As we continue improving our website, we may update this policy, however any changes we may make in the future will be posted on this page.

Please contact us via the following ways if you have a concern about any information contained on this website or on the websites to which it is linked: