Melanoma

Melanoma treatment at Skin & Laser Center of NJ begins with a diagnosis. Your provider will first carefully examine moles and other suspicious spots. To get a better look, they may use a device called a dermatoscope, which shines light into the skin and allows them to see into the lesion so that they can evaluate the pigment pattern and other structures in the skin.

If a mole or other spot that looks suspicious is identified, they will remove tissue via biopsy and send it to a lab for microscopic evaluation. Melanoma can’t be diagnosed without a biopsy. Biopsies are quick, safe, and easy for a dermatologic specialist to perform.

After a diagnosis is confirmed, there are several treatment options. We will work with you to choose the best treatment plan based on the stage, location, and size of the melanoma, as well as your overall health.

Treatment options at Skin & Laser Center of NJ typically include surgery, though several methods exist.

When treating melanoma, we want to remove all of the cancer. If the cancerous cells have not spread, it is often possible to remove the melanoma during an office visit. If caught early, this may be the only treatment needed. The patient typically remains awake during the surgical procedure. There are multiple types of surgery:

Wide Local Excision

The provider numbs the skin with a local anesthetic, then surgically removes the melanoma along with a rim of normal-looking skin. This normal-looking skin is called a margin. Most of the time, this procedure can be performed in the office.

Mohs Surgery

This procedure is only applicable for early melanoma of the head and neck. The specially trained Mohs surgeon first numbs the skin with a local anesthetic, then removes the visible part of the lesion, which is processed for examination under a microscope to look for cancer cells. This layer-by-layer approach continues until the surgeon no longer finds cancer cells. In most cases, Mohs surgery can be completed within a day or less.

Other treatments for more advanced melanoma may also include:

• Lymph node biopsy: Surgery to remove lymph nodes in order to assess if the cancer has spread there. This is performed by a surgical oncologist.
• Immunotherapy: This helps the patient’s immune system to fight the cancer.
• Targeted therapy: This involves drugs that can temporarily shrink the cancer.
• Chemotherapy: Medicine that kills the cancer cells (and some normal cells) is utilized.
• Radiation therapy: X-rays that kill the cancer cells (and some normal cells) are utilized.
• Clinical trial/study: A clinical trial studies the effectiveness of a medicine or other treatment. A doctor may recommend a clinical trial when the treatment being studied may help a patient.

Patients who have a different type of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma, may benefit from another approach. The key is to start with a diagnosis to determine the type of cancer, its stage, and other details that will help to determine which treatment would be best.