ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case study of a 39-year-old woman. A 39-year-old woman presents to the dermatology ‘two-week-wait’ clinic with a changing pigmented lesion on her leg. She has an asymmetrical, macular, variably pigmented lesion measuring 1.4 cm in diameter on her posterior calf. This pigmented lesion looks highly abnormal as it is asymmetrical, has an irregular border and colour and therefore, clinically, is a malignant melanoma. This patient was brought up in Australia where ultraviolet light is intense; a change in the mole had been noted and she had a positive family history of malignant melanoma. Melanoma is amongst the commonest type of cancer in young adults. A pigmented lesion that demonstrates significant change should be excised to exclude melanoma. There are four main different variants of melanoma: Superficial spreading melanoma, nodular melanoma, acral lentiginous melanomas and lentigo maligna melanoma.
