teddi mellencamp diagnosed with ‘wake-up call’ stage 2 melanoma
the real housewives of beverly hills star, and daughter of musician john mellencamp, is using social media to raise awareness of the importance of protecting your skin.
4 minute read
teddi mellencamp arroyave, 41, who had avoided get her skin checked because of anxiety, had a suspicious mole from her back removed earlier this year. (photo by mindy small/getty images)
as a teen in the 1990s, teddi mellencamp arroyave never wore sunscreen and put baby oil and iodine on her skin to get a tan and didn’t get any of her moles checked until age 40, she shared on instagram, after finding out that she has stage 2 melanoma.
the real housewives of beverly hills star, and daughter of musician john mellencamp, is using social media to raise awareness of the importance of protecting your skin, getting moles checked and following doctors’ recommendations.
“this has been such a wake-up call for me,” she said on instagram. mellencamp arroyave, 41, who had avoided get her skin checked because of anxiety, had a suspicious mole from her back removed earlier this year. her co-star had urged her to seek medical help when the mole on her back had changed colours — one sign of possible skin cancer.
“despite my anxiety, i listened to the doctors and went in for my three-month skin check last week since my previous melanoma,” she wrote in her post. “they said i had another abnormal spot near my last one so they did a biopsy. i got the call this morning: stage 2 melanoma.” she’s scheduled to see an oncologist next week to have the cancer cells removed and determine a treatment plan.
she shared close-up photos of the area on her back that illustrated changes in her skin, as well as a photo of herself with the scar from her previous mole removal.
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“i so badly wanted to blow this off,” she wrote. “‘what could happen in three months?’ i thought. apparently a lot.”
because melanoma begins in the melanocytes, the cells that make the pigment melanin, it can also start in other parts of the body that have melanocytes. you can get it in your eyes, fingernails, toenails and gi tract. it can also spread or metastasize to other parts of your body, which is why removal right away is so critical, according to the cancer support community.
early detection of skin cancer saves lives
self-examining your skin on a monthly basis is an important habit to have to catch suspicious moles, according to the canadian skin cancer foundation.
experts have developed an “abcde” guide of what to watch for:
asymmetry. one side of the mole doesn’t match the other side.
border. the edges of the mole are ragged or blurred.
colour. the colour of the mole is not the same, with different shades of brown or black — red, white and blue can also appear.
diameter. the mole is larger than six millimetres (1/4 inch) — about the size of a pencil eraser, or you notice growth.
evolution. a change in the size, shape, or colour, or symptoms, like itching tenderness, or bleeding.
most skin cancers that are found and removed early are almost always curable — treatment for melanoma can also be highly successful.
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increased diagnosis of melanoma — but no longer a ‘death sentence’
a recent population-based study in frontiers in medicine found that the incidence of melanoma is rising, with canadians living in southern and coastal parts of the country have a greater risk of developing the cancer.
study author dr. ivan litvinov, assistant professor in the department of medicine at mcgill university, told ctv news that melanoma is more common than all other cancers combined. out of 80,000 skin cancer diagnoses per year in canada, 8,000 are melanomas.
“every hour and six minutes, someone is being diagnosed with melanoma,” he said
the research team found that in the early 2000s melanoma accounted for 12 cases per 100,000 per year — today, the national average is 20.75 cases per 100,000. the team also discovered that melanoma affects men and women differently, occurring on the head and trunk of the body for men, and mostly on the legs and arms for women.
“we do know that when people are exposed to sun, there’s a natural release of endorphins and sun-seekers are really addicted to this,” litvinov told ctv. “in today’s world, that really translates into a higher number of skin cancer, melanomas, photo aging, wrinkles of the skin. we actually want people to go out and enjoy the outdoors to the full, full potential. just don’t get a tan.”
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while some research has pointed to ozone depletion as a contributing factor in the increase in melanoma diagnosis, other influencers are longer life expectancies which allow people more sun exposure and more time to develop cancer, along with increasingly affordable travel to sun destinations, the study authors note.
but despite the rising diagnosis rates of melanoma in canada, the mortality rate has been declining, largely because of immunotherapies and other targeted therapies, litvinov told ctv.
“we now have treatments that provide up to 50 per cent survival for patients with advanced melanoma,” he said. “before, advanced melanoma was a death sentence. but now we’re able to turn it into a chronic disease just like diabetes or heart dysfunction.”
karen hawthorne is a toronto-based writer.
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