What should you know about malignant melanoma metastasis sites?

Metastasis means melanoma cells have travelled beyond the place where the tumour began. Spread may first involve nearby skin or lymph nodes and may later affect distant organs, but the pattern differs between people. A symptom in one of these areas does not prove metastasis, because infections, injuries, medicines, and unrelated conditions can cause similar problems. Doctors combine examination with pathology and imaging to determine whether disease is local, regional, or distant. The stage describes the extent of melanoma and helps the team choose treatment and explain goals.

If melanoma is confirmed, ask which tests are appropriate for the original site and your symptoms. Assessment may include examination of the skin and lymph nodes, imaging, blood tests, or a sentinel lymph node biopsy. Treatment can involve surgical excision or tumour removal surgery when a deposit can be removed, alongside medicines such as immunotherapy when treatment needs to reach melanoma cells throughout the body. Follow-up after cancer treatment helps detect new changes and manage treatment effects. Your plan depends on location, number of deposits, symptoms, previous treatment, and overall health.

Contact your oncology team promptly for a new persistent lump, worsening unexplained pain, breathlessness, yellowing skin, repeated vomiting, or a major change in bowel or bladder function. Seek emergency care for a seizure, sudden weakness on one side, new confusion, severe breathlessness, collapse, or a sudden severe headache. These symptoms have several possible causes, but urgent assessment is needed to identify and treat serious problems.

Ask which sites have been checked, what the scans and pathology show, whether lymph-node sampling is useful, and whether a brain scan or other imaging is needed. Discuss treatment aims, symptom control, possible side effects, appointment timing, and who to contact outside clinic hours.