Melanoma: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

, which originates from the abnormal proliferation of melanocytes and which mainly affects the skin.
The onset of this dangerous neoplasm is strongly associated with excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun and tanning lamps: UVA and UVB rays, in fact, are able to damage the DNA of melanocytes in order to favor their tumor transformation.
Skin melanoma (or cutaneous melanoma) can appear as a newly formed skin spot or as an "alteration of a pre-existing nevus; generally, it has specific characteristics, which help its recognition.
Melanoma is a treatable tumor with an excellent chance of success, provided that diagnosis and treatment are timely.

Shutterstock of the skin; more precisely, they take place in the depths of the epidermis, in the so-called basal layer.

Characterized by thin cytoplasmic extensions that make space between other skin cells, melanocytes are the cellular elements responsible for the synthesis of melanin, the brown pigment which, once transferred to the keratinocytes, gives color to the skin and protects it from ultraviolet rays (UV ) Of sun.

Melanocytes are sensitive to sunlight: it is in fact the exposure to the aforementioned ultraviolet rays of the sun that stimulates their melanin synthesis activity.
This characteristic is not surprising, considering that the task of melanin is precisely to protect the skin from excess sunlight.