What is the difference between melanoma and basal cell carcinoma

They form in the upper and lower layers of the epidermis, respectively. Melanoma typically begins as a mole and can occur anywhere on the body. Squamous cell carcinoma may appear as a firm red bump, a scaly patch, or open sore, or a wart that may crust or bleed easily. Basal cell carcinoma may appear as a small white or flesh-colored bump that grows slowly and may bleed. Surgery — performed to remove the melanoma while leaving as much nearby skin intact as possible. The surgeon may also remove one or more nearby lymph nodes to look for signs that the cancer has spread.

Targeted therapy — uses drugs directed at specific abnormal proteins in cancer cells. Three drug combinations have been FDA-approved for metastatic and high-risk melanoma with a BRAF mutation: dabrafenib and trametinib; encorafenib and binimetinib; and vemurafenib and cobimetinib. Dana-Farber scientists have led clinical trials of the drug ipilimumab, one of a class of immunotherapy drugs that are helping some patients with advanced melanoma survive 10 years or longer.

Dana-Farber investigators have also found that initially treating advanced melanoma patients a combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab results in a much higher response rate than treatment with ipilimumab alone. Risk Factors. Warning Signs. About Melanin Naturally darker-skinned people have more eumelanin and naturally fair-skinned people have more pheomelanin.

The estimated five-year survival rate for U. An estimated 7, people 4, men and 2, women will die of melanoma in the U. An estimated , cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.

Of those, , cases will be noninvasive and confined to the top layer of skin in situ. Superficial spreading melanoma What you should know: This is the most common form of melanoma. Lentigo maligna What you should know: This form of melanoma often develops in older people.

Acral lentiginous melanoma What you should know: This is the most common form of melanoma found in people of color, including individuals of African ancestry. Nodular melanoma What you should know: This is the most aggressive type of melanoma. Sign up to receive our e-newsletter. Skin Cancer Information. Defining Skin Cancer. How Dangerous is Melanoma? This Is Skin Cancer. This is often related to sexually transmitted infection with human papillomaviruses HPVs , the viruses that can also cause genital warts.

Bowen disease can sometimes progress to an invasive squamous cell skin cancer, so doctors usually recommend treating it. People who have these are also at higher risk for other skin cancers, so close follow-up with a doctor is important. Keratoacanthomas are dome-shaped tumors that are found on sun-exposed skin. They may start out growing quickly, but their growth usually slows down. Many keratoacanthomas shrink or even go away on their own over time without any treatment.

But some continue to grow, and a few may even spread to other parts of the body. They can be hard to tell apart from squamous cell skin cancer, and their growth is often hard to predict, so many skin cancer experts recommend treating them typically with surgery. These cancers develop from melanocytes, the pigment-making cells found in the epidermis.

Melanomas are much less common than basal and squamous cell cancers, but they are more likely to grow and spread if left untreated. Melanoma are discussed in Melanoma Skin Cancer. MM and BCC presenting at different sites on the face in the same patient along with a focus of metastasis in the same anatomical region as the primary tumor is quite rare. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of such a case.

Basal cell carcinoma BCC and squamous cell carcinoma SCC together known as nonmelanomatous skin cancers are the most common skin cancers worldwide. The juxtaposition of two malignant skin tumors intermingling in the same histological specimen, though rare, has been reported but the simultaneous presence of two different types of malignant neoplasms is relatively uncommon. We report a rare case of a pigmented malignant melanoma occurring along with BCC on the face, at two different sites in the same patient, along with a focus of metastasis from the melanoma component at the same anatomical site.

A year-old male presented with three papillomatous growths on the face, which were localized over the left frontotemporal region 1. All were skin covered.

A biopsy was performed and the tissue was sent for histopathological evaluation. Grossly, the left frontotemporal growth was covered with the hair-bearing skin and revealed a black nodule in the dermis on the cut section. The histopathological examination showed a tumor arising from the epidermis and infiltrating the dermis. Nests and sheets of cells with a high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio, eosinophilic macronucleoli, and abundant cytoplasmic melanin pigment confirmed by bleaching with nitric acid were seen.

These constellations of findings confirmed the diagnosis of MM. The tiny growth over the right eyebrow also showed a similar morphological and immunohistochemical profile as that of the left frontotemporal mass, consistent with a diagnosis of MM thus confirming the metastasis from malignant melanoma Figure 2A. A Photomicrograph of multiple myeloma shows tumor in sheets and lobules with prominent melanin pigment. The histopathological evaluation of the papillomatous growth below the right eye revealed an atypical proliferation of basophilic cells arising in the epidermal basal cell layer and infiltrating the underlying dermis in nests, cords, and solid nodules.

Deposits of the melanin pigment were scattered throughout the lesion. The stroma was fibrous and retraction clefts were present at the periphery of the tumoral nests Figures 2B, C. These features of the dermal component were typical of a pigmented BCC.

The immunohistochemical profile revealed a strong expression for bcl-2 and not for melan- A thereby confirming our diagnosis of pigmented BCC Figure 2D.