Prayers for 2wlady

Part of the reason that nodular melanoma contributes to a disproportionate number of melanoma deaths may be that it doesn't always look like the cancerous moles described in public health campaigns.

When most melanomas develop, they stay in the skin's top layer, growing no deeper than one-tenth of a millimeter, for months or years. But in nodular melanoma, the cancer cells quickly start growing vertically: A bump forms at the skin's surface, and they send roots down into the fat, blood and other tissue of the body.

Finding nodular melanoma requires adding more letters to the ABCD model, such as "E" for evolving, or rapidly changing over weeks or months. Doctors also added "F" and "G" to describe nodular melanoma's tendency to show up as firm, and growing rapidly.

Pass it on: Some melanomas don't grow in diameter, they grow in depth instead, and can be more deadly.