Types of melanoma
There are four main types of skin melanoma.
Types of skin melanoma
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Superficial spreading melanoma
This is the most common type. In women, the most common place for it to start is on the legs. In men, it’s on the chest and the back. The melanoma cells usually grow slowly at first and spread out across the surface of the skin.
This is the second most common type. It can grow more quickly than other melanomas and is usually found on the chest, back, head or neck.
Lentigo maligna melanoma
This type of melanoma is usually found in older people in areas of skin that have had a lot of sun exposure over many years. It’s often found on the face and neck. It develops from a slow-growing precancerous condition called a lentigo maligna or Hutchison’s freckle, which looks like a stain on the skin.
This is the rarest type and is usually found on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, or under fingernails or toenails. It’s more common in people with black or brown skin and isn’t thought to be related to sun exposure.
Melanoma in other parts of the body
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Rarely, melanoma can start in parts of the body other than the skin. It can start in the eye (ocular melanoma). Or it can start in the tissues that line areas inside the body, such as the anus or rectum (anorectal melanoma), nose, mouth, lungs and other areas. For more information about these other types of melanoma, contact our cancer support specialists.
Melanoma is advanced when the cancerous cells have spread from the original melanoma to other parts of the body. When the cancer cells from a tumour spread to a different part of the body, they grow into new a cancer (known as a secondary cancer or metastasis). If melanoma spreads, it’s most likely to spread to one or more of the following parts of the body:
areas of skin distant from the original melanoma
lymph nodes (sometimes called glands) distant from the original melanoma
Some people are diagnosed with advanced melanoma when a melanoma has come back in another part of the body. This can sometimes be years after the original melanoma was first removed. In others, advanced melanoma is diagnosed when the melanoma is removed and further tests then show that it has spread.