onkommon.com
Other cancers · free patient guide
Skin cancer & melanoma
Melanoma, basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma
Skin & melanoma · Coming soon
What it is
Most skin cancers are basal cell or squamous cell carcinomas, which are slow-growing and usually curable with local treatment. Melanoma is less common and behaves differently.
In darker skin, melanoma most often appears on the soles, palms, under nails, or in the mouth, sites where sun exposure is irrelevant and where it is easily missed.
Melanoma is less common in India than in fair-skinned populations, but it presents differently here, often on the sole of the foot, the palm or under a nail, where nobody thinks to look.
Warning signs worth acting on
- A mole that is changing in size, shape or colour
- A new pigmented lesion in an adult, particularly on the sole or palm
- A dark streak under a fingernail or toenail that is new or widening
- A skin sore that has not healed in a month
- Any lesion that itches, bleeds or crusts repeatedly
- An enlarging nodule on a sun-exposed area
How it is diagnosed
- Dermatoscopic examination
- Excision biopsy of the whole lesion where melanoma is suspected, not a shave or partial sample
- Assessment of the depth of the lesion, which drives everything that follows
- Imaging and node assessment where indicated
Molecular testing in melanoma identifies alterations with matched targeted options. Biomarker testing informs immunotherapy candidacy.
Is it inherited?
Familial melanoma syndromes exist. Multiple atypical moles or several affected relatives should prompt counselling.
Genetic counselling & family risk →
Prevention & early detection
Sun protection helps, but in Indian skin the more useful advice is to check the places nobody checks, soles, palms, nails and the mouth.
Treatment options
What may form part of a plan
Which of these apply to you depends on your stage, your pathology, your other health and what you want from treatment. That decision belongs at a tumour board, not on a website.
Surgery
Operability assessment and planning here; the operation at the appropriate partner centre.
Immunotherapy
Treatment that works on the immune system rather than directly on the tumour.
Targeted therapy
Medicines matched to a specific alteration found in your tumour.
Radiotherapy
Targeted radiation to a defined area, planned in millimetres.
Clinical trials
Most Indian patients never learn a trial exists, because nobody is looking.
Conservative management & active surveillance
Sometimes the right decision is to watch carefully and treat nothing yet.
At KPCIRC
The pathway for this disease
- Dermatology reflex pathway feeding from our own high-volume skin clinic
- Whole-lesion excision biopsy where melanoma is suspected
- Immunotherapy-first assessment where indicated
- A written surveillance imaging protocol and a skin self-check plan
Support that matters most here
Take this with you
Questions to ask your own doctor
These work wherever you are treated. Print the page or take a photograph of this list.
- What was the depth of the lesion, and what does that change?
- Do my lymph nodes need assessing?
- What molecular testing has been done?
- How often should my skin be checked from now on, and by whom?
This page is not an emergency service. Severe breathlessness, chest pain, uncontrolled bleeding, a high fever during chemotherapy, or a sudden change in alertness means going to your nearest emergency department now, not reading further.