› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Another skin-cancer myth — busted
- This topic has 24 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 1 month ago by
Gene_S.
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- April 4, 2016 at 5:38 pm
Dear Reader,I know many dermatologists who carefully count up the total number of moles their patients have. They say if you have lots of these growths, you have a higher risk of developing melanoma skin cancer.
It turns out, they are wrong. Not only that — they have it completely backwards. And there's no need to perform this painstaking procedure. In fact, recent research suggests that if you have lots of moles, you actually have a much lower risk of developing melanoma than someone with very few moles. And if you do happen to get melanoma, the presence of multiple moles may indicate that the cancer will behave less aggressively. I'll tell you more about this interesting new discovery in just a moment. But first, let's back up a step…
As I often remind you, melanoma is the one and only deadly form of skin cancer. It can and does kill. But melanomas make up just 9 percent of all skin growths classified as "cancerous."
Melanoma comes from melanocyte skin cells, the pigmented cells that allow our skin to turn tan when exposed to sunlight. They make and release melanin, which darkens the skin. People of color, with naturally dark skin, have more melanocytes in their skin.
Many doctors obsess unnecessarily on skin moles, technically called "pigmented nevi," because they have high concentrations of melanocytes. They assumed we need to carefully monitor these growths because they expected malignant melanoma to arise from these sites.
But new research says we've been looking in all the wrong places.
Fewer moles linked to higher melanoma risk
In a new study published in JAMA Dermatology, researchers studied 566 patients at two academic medical centers and an affiliated VA hospital. Doctors surveyed the patients from 2006 to 2009, within three months of having a melanoma skin tumor biopsy. They measured thickness of the tumors. Typically, the thicker the tumor, the more aggressive the cancer. They also counted the number of moles on the skin.
The researchers divided the patients into three groups. Patients in the first group had zero to 19 moles. The second group 20 to 50 moles. And the third group had more than 50 moles each.
The researchers also evaluated the moles as to whether they appeared "atypical," which is thought to increase the risk of developing melanoma.
Strikingly, the majority of patients with melanoma skin cancer were actually in the low "0 to 19" mole category. And none of the few moles they did have were characterized as "atypical." All their moles were just average skin moles. Also, the older the patient with melanoma, the fewer moles they had.
I also found it interesting that people under 60 years old who had greater numbers of moles — in the more than 50 moles category — had thinner melanoma cancers, which are typically less aggressive cancers. But in patients younger than 60 years, the presence of more than five atypical moles was associated with thicker melanoma cancers.
So in this study, melanoma skin cancer was more commonly diagnosed in people with fewer moles, compared to those with a higher mole count. And in younger and middle-aged patients who have a lot of moles, and do get melanoma skin cancer, the cancer is thinner and therefore less aggressive or dangerous.
What does it all mean for you?So — having more moles may actually protect you against getting melanoma skin cancer. And if you get melanoma, chances are it may be a thinner, less aggressive cancer.
Remember — there are melanocytes in the skin all over the body. Yes, there is a higher concentration of melanocytes in skin moles. But moles cover only a very small percentage of the skin, even in people with lots of them.
Most of the melanocytes are located elsewhere in the skin. So it stands to reason most of the melanomas will arise from melanocytes that don't happen to be located in moles.
While the researchers didn't answer why having more moles appears to protect people from melanoma, this new study did put another myth about skin cancer to rest.
Of course, you can't do much about how many moles you have on your body. But there is a simple step you can take that can help reduce your risk of skin (and most other) cancers: Spend more time in the sun.
This advice is also contrary to what you typically hear from dermatologists. And indeed, other studies link melanoma risk with over-exposure to the sun and sunburn during adolescence and young adulthood. (That's one reason young people shouldn't frequent tanning booths. Fortunately, the FDA has recently taken steps to regulate tanning bed use more stringently.)
But, as you get into middle- and old-age, don't be afraid to go out in the sun. Spending more time in the sun will help raise your vitamin D levels, which lowers your risk of skin cancer, prostate cancer (as I reported last week), and most other cancers.
Always on the side of science,
Marc S. Micozzi, M.D., Ph.D.
Source:
1. "Total Nevi, Atypical Nevi, and Melanoma Thickness: : An Analysis of 566 Patients at 2 US Centers," JAMA Dermatology, (http://www.archderm.jamanetwork.com ) 3/2/2016
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- April 4, 2016 at 6:39 pm
Here is the link
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- April 4, 2016 at 6:39 pm
Here is the link
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- April 5, 2016 at 1:15 am
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… Hundreds of moles and never wore sunscreen.
I have been petrified of my moles because a dermatologist said oh my! Your body is a mess of moles! Your superhigh risk for melanoma !
I moved onto another derm who looked at me and said everything looks good… See you in two years…he was very reassuring. I read all the research and honestly don't know what the answer is ? What causes it? My mom and dad used baby oil and lived at the beach… Never had melanoma. My coworker fair skin, red hair, spf 100 all his life… Agressive stage 3 melsnoma
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- April 5, 2016 at 1:15 am
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… Hundreds of moles and never wore sunscreen.
I have been petrified of my moles because a dermatologist said oh my! Your body is a mess of moles! Your superhigh risk for melanoma !
I moved onto another derm who looked at me and said everything looks good… See you in two years…he was very reassuring. I read all the research and honestly don't know what the answer is ? What causes it? My mom and dad used baby oil and lived at the beach… Never had melanoma. My coworker fair skin, red hair, spf 100 all his life… Agressive stage 3 melsnoma
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- April 5, 2016 at 1:15 am
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… Hundreds of moles and never wore sunscreen.
I have been petrified of my moles because a dermatologist said oh my! Your body is a mess of moles! Your superhigh risk for melanoma !
I moved onto another derm who looked at me and said everything looks good… See you in two years…he was very reassuring. I read all the research and honestly don't know what the answer is ? What causes it? My mom and dad used baby oil and lived at the beach… Never had melanoma. My coworker fair skin, red hair, spf 100 all his life… Agressive stage 3 melsnoma
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- April 4, 2016 at 6:39 pm
Here is the link
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- April 4, 2016 at 10:09 pm
Well that is an interesting study, Gene, thanks for posting. I have lots of moles (well over 50) with virtually all of them appearing atypical (that's just typical for me I guess). However it is very clear the disease has not been aggressive in my case (so far) even though it was first discovered in my lung. On the other hand, my equally moley brother's case seems very aggressive although we can't be sure since we don't know when his first stage IV tumor showed up and we do know mine. He may have been unknowingly Stage IV for many years. All I know is he drove himself to the doctor on Feb 1st and was admitted to a nursing home March 31st unable to walk or care for himself. Seems fast. But in my case, lots of moles and not aggressive.
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- April 4, 2016 at 10:09 pm
Well that is an interesting study, Gene, thanks for posting. I have lots of moles (well over 50) with virtually all of them appearing atypical (that's just typical for me I guess). However it is very clear the disease has not been aggressive in my case (so far) even though it was first discovered in my lung. On the other hand, my equally moley brother's case seems very aggressive although we can't be sure since we don't know when his first stage IV tumor showed up and we do know mine. He may have been unknowingly Stage IV for many years. All I know is he drove himself to the doctor on Feb 1st and was admitted to a nursing home March 31st unable to walk or care for himself. Seems fast. But in my case, lots of moles and not aggressive.
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- April 4, 2016 at 10:09 pm
Well that is an interesting study, Gene, thanks for posting. I have lots of moles (well over 50) with virtually all of them appearing atypical (that's just typical for me I guess). However it is very clear the disease has not been aggressive in my case (so far) even though it was first discovered in my lung. On the other hand, my equally moley brother's case seems very aggressive although we can't be sure since we don't know when his first stage IV tumor showed up and we do know mine. He may have been unknowingly Stage IV for many years. All I know is he drove himself to the doctor on Feb 1st and was admitted to a nursing home March 31st unable to walk or care for himself. Seems fast. But in my case, lots of moles and not aggressive.
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- April 7, 2016 at 11:42 am
I have hundreds of freckles on my body. No dark, wierd looking moles. They are light to medium tan, look like age spots. 15 of these freckles/moles have been removed… 8 have come back as melanoma. 7 InSitu and 1 malignant. I have surgery with skin graft scheduled for the 15th of this month as 3 of them are close together around the ankle area. I have seen a cutaneous oncologist at Moffitt in Tampa (I live in Florida) and have been diagnosed with FAMM (a genetic familial melanoma). 2 of my brothers have had melanoma, 2 cousins have stage IV melanoma, an aunt died of pancreatic cancer and another had melanoma. My pathology is also being tested for Bapomas (from BP1 link), which sometimes is mistaken for melanoma.
I look at my "freckles" every day and watch them change. They get bigger, but they don't get darker. We take them off and they come back as melanoma and then more surgery. So be careful when you tell people that hundreds of freckles/moles can't turn into melanoma, because if you have FAMM they absolutely can. I am living this nightmare and we can't take them off fast enough. And telling someone with melanoma to go out into the sun is bad advice. Yes, everyone needs sunshine but we need to avoid it between the key hours (10-4).
I am 51 years old, never was sun burned, but I play golf and deep sea fish. Alot of time was spent in the sun during key hours and I am paying the price now.
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- April 7, 2016 at 1:51 pm
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… not by me. I am sorry that yours did not turn out so well but because of the FAMM maybe.
I just posted about the study.
Also you live in Florida and those above Atlanta, GA do not get enough Vitamin D3. As a matter of fact our babies are born Vitamin D3 deficient as was told to me by the research nurse because I am above Atlanta, GA. I was also deficient and worked 40 years of mostly midnights and afternoon turn so I wasn't out during the key times and did not get my melanoma from the sun.
Gene
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- April 7, 2016 at 1:51 pm
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… not by me. I am sorry that yours did not turn out so well but because of the FAMM maybe.
I just posted about the study.
Also you live in Florida and those above Atlanta, GA do not get enough Vitamin D3. As a matter of fact our babies are born Vitamin D3 deficient as was told to me by the research nurse because I am above Atlanta, GA. I was also deficient and worked 40 years of mostly midnights and afternoon turn so I wasn't out during the key times and did not get my melanoma from the sun.
Gene
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- April 7, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Gene, please find a quack web site to post on, that wants to here about this stupid quack science that you keep pushing on Melanoma patients who don't need to be sold this kind of $$$$.
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- April 7, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Gene, please find a quack web site to post on, that wants to here about this stupid quack science that you keep pushing on Melanoma patients who don't need to be sold this kind of $$$$.
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- April 8, 2016 at 12:00 am
Anonymous – I am not aware that JAMA is known for publishing quack studies. I also could not find any listing on Quackwatch for A. Bernard Ackerman (though I may not have used the search tool correctly) so I don't know why you think this posting is quack science. Perhaps because Gene has previously posted articles favorable to alternative medicine that has biased your view towards anything that he might post. If so, that right there is an argument for people to use the Anonymous option – to remove pre-conceived bias. If he had posted this anonymously, you might have read it more objectively.
In any event, I for one, hate to see anyone on this site encouraging censorship of any information on melanoma. If you don't agree with a particular post, you can say so or ignore it. But I would like to read all information available to me and make up my own mind. You don't need to protect me from information.
The science is not completely settled on the connection between sun exposure and melanoma. Most agree that sun is to be avoided. But there are reputable voices that counter this. The only way any of us can hope to make fully informed decisions is to have as much information as possible. That includes contrary information which leaves us to choose the argument we personally believe has the most merit.
Gene – I hope you will continue to post information that you believe is useful and relevant to those of us with melanoma. We can decide for ourselves if we agree or not.
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- April 8, 2016 at 12:00 am
Anonymous – I am not aware that JAMA is known for publishing quack studies. I also could not find any listing on Quackwatch for A. Bernard Ackerman (though I may not have used the search tool correctly) so I don't know why you think this posting is quack science. Perhaps because Gene has previously posted articles favorable to alternative medicine that has biased your view towards anything that he might post. If so, that right there is an argument for people to use the Anonymous option – to remove pre-conceived bias. If he had posted this anonymously, you might have read it more objectively.
In any event, I for one, hate to see anyone on this site encouraging censorship of any information on melanoma. If you don't agree with a particular post, you can say so or ignore it. But I would like to read all information available to me and make up my own mind. You don't need to protect me from information.
The science is not completely settled on the connection between sun exposure and melanoma. Most agree that sun is to be avoided. But there are reputable voices that counter this. The only way any of us can hope to make fully informed decisions is to have as much information as possible. That includes contrary information which leaves us to choose the argument we personally believe has the most merit.
Gene – I hope you will continue to post information that you believe is useful and relevant to those of us with melanoma. We can decide for ourselves if we agree or not.
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- April 8, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Thank you Maggie. I believe as you do the more informed we are about everything with melanoma the better decisions it might help us make. Since we are all individuals and everything we try works differently on each of us. Even though I am NED I still read everything I can in case the beast comes back since I have experienced Stage IV.
Gene
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- April 8, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Thank you Maggie. I believe as you do the more informed we are about everything with melanoma the better decisions it might help us make. Since we are all individuals and everything we try works differently on each of us. Even though I am NED I still read everything I can in case the beast comes back since I have experienced Stage IV.
Gene
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- April 8, 2016 at 1:54 pm
Thank you Maggie. I believe as you do the more informed we are about everything with melanoma the better decisions it might help us make. Since we are all individuals and everything we try works differently on each of us. Even though I am NED I still read everything I can in case the beast comes back since I have experienced Stage IV.
Gene
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- April 8, 2016 at 12:00 am
Anonymous – I am not aware that JAMA is known for publishing quack studies. I also could not find any listing on Quackwatch for A. Bernard Ackerman (though I may not have used the search tool correctly) so I don't know why you think this posting is quack science. Perhaps because Gene has previously posted articles favorable to alternative medicine that has biased your view towards anything that he might post. If so, that right there is an argument for people to use the Anonymous option – to remove pre-conceived bias. If he had posted this anonymously, you might have read it more objectively.
In any event, I for one, hate to see anyone on this site encouraging censorship of any information on melanoma. If you don't agree with a particular post, you can say so or ignore it. But I would like to read all information available to me and make up my own mind. You don't need to protect me from information.
The science is not completely settled on the connection between sun exposure and melanoma. Most agree that sun is to be avoided. But there are reputable voices that counter this. The only way any of us can hope to make fully informed decisions is to have as much information as possible. That includes contrary information which leaves us to choose the argument we personally believe has the most merit.
Gene – I hope you will continue to post information that you believe is useful and relevant to those of us with melanoma. We can decide for ourselves if we agree or not.
-
- April 7, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Gene, please find a quack web site to post on, that wants to here about this stupid quack science that you keep pushing on Melanoma patients who don't need to be sold this kind of $$$$.
-
- April 7, 2016 at 1:51 pm
This is about world reknown Dermatopathologist Dr. Ackerman… not by me. I am sorry that yours did not turn out so well but because of the FAMM maybe.
I just posted about the study.
Also you live in Florida and those above Atlanta, GA do not get enough Vitamin D3. As a matter of fact our babies are born Vitamin D3 deficient as was told to me by the research nurse because I am above Atlanta, GA. I was also deficient and worked 40 years of mostly midnights and afternoon turn so I wasn't out during the key times and did not get my melanoma from the sun.
Gene
-
- April 7, 2016 at 11:42 am
I have hundreds of freckles on my body. No dark, wierd looking moles. They are light to medium tan, look like age spots. 15 of these freckles/moles have been removed… 8 have come back as melanoma. 7 InSitu and 1 malignant. I have surgery with skin graft scheduled for the 15th of this month as 3 of them are close together around the ankle area. I have seen a cutaneous oncologist at Moffitt in Tampa (I live in Florida) and have been diagnosed with FAMM (a genetic familial melanoma). 2 of my brothers have had melanoma, 2 cousins have stage IV melanoma, an aunt died of pancreatic cancer and another had melanoma. My pathology is also being tested for Bapomas (from BP1 link), which sometimes is mistaken for melanoma.
I look at my "freckles" every day and watch them change. They get bigger, but they don't get darker. We take them off and they come back as melanoma and then more surgery. So be careful when you tell people that hundreds of freckles/moles can't turn into melanoma, because if you have FAMM they absolutely can. I am living this nightmare and we can't take them off fast enough. And telling someone with melanoma to go out into the sun is bad advice. Yes, everyone needs sunshine but we need to avoid it between the key hours (10-4).
I am 51 years old, never was sun burned, but I play golf and deep sea fish. Alot of time was spent in the sun during key hours and I am paying the price now.
-
- April 7, 2016 at 11:42 am
I have hundreds of freckles on my body. No dark, wierd looking moles. They are light to medium tan, look like age spots. 15 of these freckles/moles have been removed… 8 have come back as melanoma. 7 InSitu and 1 malignant. I have surgery with skin graft scheduled for the 15th of this month as 3 of them are close together around the ankle area. I have seen a cutaneous oncologist at Moffitt in Tampa (I live in Florida) and have been diagnosed with FAMM (a genetic familial melanoma). 2 of my brothers have had melanoma, 2 cousins have stage IV melanoma, an aunt died of pancreatic cancer and another had melanoma. My pathology is also being tested for Bapomas (from BP1 link), which sometimes is mistaken for melanoma.
I look at my "freckles" every day and watch them change. They get bigger, but they don't get darker. We take them off and they come back as melanoma and then more surgery. So be careful when you tell people that hundreds of freckles/moles can't turn into melanoma, because if you have FAMM they absolutely can. I am living this nightmare and we can't take them off fast enough. And telling someone with melanoma to go out into the sun is bad advice. Yes, everyone needs sunshine but we need to avoid it between the key hours (10-4).
I am 51 years old, never was sun burned, but I play golf and deep sea fish. Alot of time was spent in the sun during key hours and I am paying the price now.
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Tagged: cutaneous melanoma
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