Melanomas are not always dark
Most people would be concerned about a mole that became very dark. Any we know that the vast majority of melanomas are pigmented, that is they look black, brown or maybe dark blue and often more than one shade or color. However “amelanotic” melanomas are uncommon form of melanomas that have no pigmentation. They may appear as a pink bump or patch, or sometime a raw looking pink nodule. A recent study highlight why we need to be especially vigilant in looking out for these. In this retrospective study it was found that amelanotic melanomas are more likely to be misdiagnosed and diagnosed at an older age with more aggressive features and shorter survival. More awareness and a lower threshold for biopsy may help detect these potentially deadly lesion before it is too late.
Citation:
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Clinicopathologic, Misdiagnosis and Survival Differences Between Clinically Amelanotic Melanomas and Pigmented Melanomas
J Am Acad Dermatol 2019 Jan 14;[EPub Ahead of Print], LC Strazzulla, X Li, K Zhu, JP Okhovat, SJ Lee, CC Kim