Early Stages of Melanoma

Melanoma is a dangerous type of skin cancer that begins in the melanocytes skin cells. Detecting melanoma in the early stages is essential to preventing the skin cancer from spreading.

Staging Systems

• There are three different systems that doctors can use to determine the stage of the melanoma. These systems are the Breslow scale, number stages, and the most commonly used, TNM staging.

Stage 0 Melanoma

• Stage 0 melanoma is used to describe skin cancer that is only found in the epidermis skin cells. Stage 0 melanoma has not spread to other layers of the skin.

Stage 1A Melanoma

• Stage 1A melanoma is used to describe skin cancer that is less than one millimeter thick that has not ulcerated. The cancer is confined to the skin and has not spread.

Stage 1B Melanoma

• This stage is used to describe cancer that is less than one millimeter thick and has ulcerated. It is also used to describe skin cancer that is between one and two millimeters thick that has not ulcerated. In this stage the melanoma has not started to spread.

Early Stage Melanoma Treatment

• The best treatment at this stage is to surgically remove the skin cancer. The doctor may decide to remove a small amount of healthy skin from the cancerous area, in order to be sure that all the cancerous skin cells are removed.