How moles are formed
Nevi, or moles, are actually benign local developmental disorders of various skin elements, mainly pigment ones.
What does it mean? The skin is the largest human organ. Its area in an adult is an average of 1.73 meters. This organ is extremely complex: it includes two parts – the epidermis and the dermis -, each of which has its own structure and performs many functions. The skin has sweat and sebaceous glands, millions of nerve endings, immune cells, blood vessels and much more. And, of course, all these structures consist of a wide variety of cells. As everyone knows, we develop in utero from a single cell – a fertilized egg. And then a child develops from this single tiny structure, and then an adult. From it alone grow, for example, all 1600 billion skin cells, namely, so many of them in an adult.
This process is the most complicated, so small failures can occur in it. The result of such a software failure in the growth and development of the skin is a nevus – in other words, a mole.
Nevi can be congenital and acquired, although there is a theory that all nevi are congenital, they just appear at different ages. Basically, nevi originate from pigment cells, although they can also develop from other structures, for example, from the sebaceous glands.
What is the danger of moles
The main problem is the possibility of their malignancy! That is, the transformation of an education that is safe for health into an extremely life-threatening one – malignant melanoma.
The most dangerous are congenital – large spotted or warty growths of a dark color with a lot of hair. There are also so-called dysplastic nevi. They initially have an uneven structure, uneven coloring, fuzzy edges. Such formations are especially dangerous if there are cases of melanoma in the family.
But even ordinary intradermal, “non-dangerous” nevi can cause very big problems if they are in areas of frequent trauma. For example, in the area of the collar, belt or underwear straps. Regular damage to nevi can occur when the military, divers, and firefighters wear special equipment.
What to do in this situation? The best option is to remove all nevi that can cause trouble. To do this, you can contact a specialized medical center. To date, one of the best ways to remove skin tumors is laser removal. This method allows you to remove without pain, with virtually no scarring and without complications.
How to recognize that a mole has begun to turn into melanoma?
Firstly, this is a change in the shape and structure of already existing nevi (moles):
a change in the color of a mole; Lack of skin pattern in the neoplasm area; Blurring of the contour of the mole/pigment spot; change in the size of the mole; sensation of itching and burning in the area of the mole; the appearance of cracks and ulcerations in the area of the mole; bleeding.
All this is the reason for contacting a dermatologist to exclude malignant degeneration of a mole.
What to do if the doctor confirms that the rebirth has already taken place? And this is where timing is extremely important. At the initial stage of melanoma development, the probability of recovery is up to 100%. But if you drag out with an appeal to the doctor in the hope that “it will pass by itself”, the percentage of recovery, unfortunately, will begin to decline rapidly. The main danger of melanoma is metastases (screenings) to internal organs and the brain. Fighting them is usually very difficult.
