Just diagnosed with stage 2 or 3 melanoma (resectable)? If you’ve just found out that you or a loved one has cutaneous melanoma, it can be a shock. But you are not alone — 1.4 million people in the United States are living with melanoma. 1 The good news is that due to major advances in treatments, the outlook for people with stage 2–3 cutaneous melanoma continues to improve. Today, people are often having dramatic and lasting responses to newer therapies, and many are cured.
million people are living with melanoma. 1 1.4
What to do next? First, take a breath, stay calm and keep reading.
Once you feel ready, it might help you to learn more about melanoma. This guide will cover melanoma stages 2 and 3 that can be removed by surgery (called resectable ).
In this guide, you will learn:
Learn about advance directives ................22 Clinical trials .......................................................23 Early detection of melanoma recurrence (cancer coming back) ....................................26 Your regular self-skin-check guide ............28 Survivorship ..........................................................31 Resources ............................................................36 FOR CAREGIVERS Caregiver support guide ...............................40 Resources ............................................................58 Glossary ...............................................................60
FOR THE PERSON WITH MELANOMA What is cutaneous melanoma?.....................2 How can doctors tell if I have melanoma?...............................................4 What stage is my melanoma?........................5 Knowing the genetic mutations in your melanoma................................................8 Learn about stage 2 melanoma .................10 Learn about stage 3 melanoma (resectable)........................................................... 12 Know your cancer care team .......................16 Questions to ask your doctor ........................18 Steps for getting a second opinion ...........20 1 SEER*Explorer: An interactive website for SEER cancer statistics [Internet]. Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute; 2024 Apr 17. [cited 2024 May 3]. Available from https://seer.cancer. gov/statfacts/html/melan.html . Data source(s): SEER Incidence Data, November 2023 Submission (1975-2021), SEER 22 registries.
In this guide, we will use the word “melanoma” to refer to cutaneous melanoma, which means melanoma of the skin. Words in dark blue are defined in the glossary on page 60.
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