Skin cancers are THE most common types of cancers.  Thankfully, most types of skin cancers do not result in death.  However, melanoma is one type of skin cancer that can be lethal if not detected and treated early enough.  This chapter will first discuss normal epithelial tissue and skin anatomy and histology, followed by a brief introduction to how cancer can develop in a cell. To introduce melanoma, author Lyz Boyd will guide you from the point of view the reader who sees a funny looking mole to the naked eye.  Lyz will introduce the histopathology of melanoma and metastasis.

Watch this Open Education video for a quick introduction to melanoma.

^{How Likely Are You to Get Skin Cancer? by New York Magazine, licensed under CC-BY 4.0}

This chapter is subdivided into:

• Pre-test
• Normal skin anatomy & histology
• Introduction to cell differentiation and cancer
• Pathophysiology of melanoma
• Progression of melanoma: metastasis
• Interview with medical Laboratory Science technologist about biopsy of possible melanoma
• Post-test

Abbreviations

Acknowledgement