Toenail melanomas are similarly found on the skin but they are on the skin beneath the toenail or thumbnail. This makes them less noticeable especially for citizen who frequently wear dark nail polish. This is also the fancy why most toenail melanomas are only treated or removed only when they have reached the more developed stages of growth.
Fortunately, toenail melanoma is commonly benign, in which case a simple surgical operation can be done to remove the skin tumor. Since toenail melanoma is covered by the nail, the performance would require the partial or total removal of the exterior nail as well.
This is all done under local anesthesia so there is nothing to worry about. With the advances in modern medicine, this surgical operation will only last about an hour.
The first symptom of this kind of skin cancer is a small dark spot resembling a mole. Oftentimes, a toenail melanoma is dark yellow, brown or black.
In rare cases, the spot is colorless, manufacture it more difficult to detect. These types are the riskier ones especially if they turn out to be malignant. They can keep growing with the person not even knowing he has it.
To differentiate in the middle of a quarterly mole and a toenail melanoma, you will have to inspect the spot for a few days or even weeks. If the spot grows in size, there is a large opening that it is in fact a toenail melanoma.
Although most toenail melanomas are benign, this is not a certainty. You need to go in for a biopsy to settle the kind of toenail melanoma you have.
Sometimes a toenail melanoma starts not as a spot but a streak, similar to the white streaks that sometimes appear on the nail following trauma. If you observation these streaks on your nails without undergoing any kind of nail trauma, you should have your nail checked as this can be the starting stages of a tumor.
Although this condition is commonly called toenail melanoma, it can categorically occur in any of your other nails as well. They do appear much more frequently on the toenails and thumbnails but you should ordinarily check your other nails as well.
Once you begin to observation these changes in your nails, it is best to consult a physician right away. Melanomas are still a kind of cancer, and just like other cancers, they are more categorically treated if detected early. Also, since they are just like any other tumor, you will need to endure chemotherapy and radiation in case the toenail melanoma turns out to be malignant.
Medical studies have shown that this particular kind of melanoma, also called acral lentiginous melanoma in the healing community, is more tasteless in Asians and other citizen with darker skin. However, Caucasians are not totally risk-free as there have also been any cases of toenail melanoma in very fair-skinned citizen over the years.
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