Melanoma is a serious form of skin cancer that begins in cells known as melanocytes. Melanoma skin cancer is more dangerous because of its ability to spread to other organs more rapidly if it is not treated at an early stage. Based on the global cancer data statistics, melanoma is among the twenty most common cancer types in the world and when different types of skin cancers are considered, melanoma can be identified as the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Melanocytes are skin cells found in the upper layer of skin. They produce a pigment known as melanin, which gives skin its color. When skin is exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds, it causes skin damage that triggers the melanocytes to produce more melanin, but only the eumelanin pigment attempts to protect the skin by causing the skin to darken or tan.

Melanoma occurs when DNA damages from burning or tanning due to UV radiation which triggers changes (mutations) in the melanocytes, resulting in uncontrolled cellular growth .

These mutations that occur in human DNA from UV radiation are called somatic mutations. On the other hand, germline mutations, or mutations that happen when cells are divided when producing offspring passes hereditary diseases from parents to the child. It has been found that Melanoma can occur due to both somatic and germline mutations in DNA.

Melanoma is present in many shapes, sizes and colors. That is why it is tricky to provide a comprehensive set of warning signs. But it is vital to detect Melanoma at its early stages and start medical treatment so that it will not spread at a high rate and affect the other organs as well which makes it difficult to be treated at its last stages. Melanoma is usually curable when detected and treated early. Once melanoma has spread deeper into the skin or other parts of the body, it becomes more difficult to treat and can be deadly.

At the beginning of the year 2021 it was estimated that 207,390 cases of Melanoma will be diagnosed just in the U.S. and from those patients it was estimated that 7,180 people will die of Melanoma.

At present techniques like total cutaneous photography, dermoscopy, confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM), ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and multispectral imaging are being used in screening Melanoma of which dermoscopies are more widely being used.

When looking at the statistics, it can be observed that fair-skinned people have a higher risk of being affected by melanoma when compared to darker-skinned people. The reason for this is that darker-skinned people have more eumelanin and fair-skinned people have more pheomelanin. As eumelanin can protect the skin from being damaged by UV radiation from sources such as sun, tanning beds, etc. by darkening the skin, fair-skinned people are more likely to be affected by melanoma due to lack of eumelanin. Therefore, melanoma can be found commonly in European, American and Australian regions.