Melanoma

[lessthanjared]

just as I thought I was starting to get over my health anxiety (or so I thought) I came across the only one of my fears that actually has rational basis. my father is 62 and developed melanoma skin cancer about 20 years ago. he beat it rather easily as it was diagnosed in the earliest stage I believe. anyways, I've been reading about skin cancer screening and such and I've read that having 50 or more regular moles, having at least 1 abnormal mole and having a family history of the cancer are all risk factors. (correct me if I'm wrong, please). Anyways, I have all of those. I'm considerably more frightened this time because this is the only form of cancer that I actually have considerable risk factors for. Is is true that young people like myself rarely contract melanoma? I don't want to run this question by Google to spare myself more anxiety. I'm 17 years old by the way.

Any help would be appreciated a lot.

---------- Post added at 04:28 ---------- Previous post was at 03:30 ----------

nobody? :(

[Gary A]

just as I thought I was starting to get over my health anxiety (or so I thought) I came across the only one of my fears that actually has rational basis. my father is 62 and developed melanoma skin cancer about 20 years ago. he beat it rather easily as it was diagnosed in the earliest stage I believe. anyways, I've been reading about skin cancer screening and such and I've read that having 50 or more regular moles, having at least 1 abnormal mole and having a family history of the cancer are all risk factors. (correct me if I'm wrong, please). Anyways, I have all of those. I'm considerably more frightened this time because this is the only form of cancer that I actually have considerable risk factors for. Is is true that young people like myself rarely contract melanoma? I don't want to run this question by Google to spare myself more anxiety. I'm 17 years old by the way.

Any help would be appreciated a lot.

---------- Post added at 04:28 ---------- Previous post was at 03:30 ----------

nobody? :(

The risk factors you mention are common in the vast majority of people, but generally, melanoma affects people who have long exposure to the sun. Anyone can get it, that much is true, but if you take adequate care of your skin against the sun then your risks are greatly reduced.

[Kayla1992]

These days the screening for skin cancer is so thorough that as long as you have a check up regularly, if you were to ever have anything, it would be caught in the earliest possible time and the chances of it being completely cured are significant. Just like it was for your dad.
I get a mole map done every 12 months due to having high risk factors too. They take photos of all you moles and compare them to previous photos to detect any change. If there is anything that looks like it has any potential what so ever to become anything nasty, the get me to come back in 3 months to check it again. I have had this happen twice now and one biopsy and all has come back clear.
The point it, it is one of the esiest cancers to detect in the absolutely earliest stage, and therefore the best chance of being completely cured with little fuss :)