Question 1 Farrah noticed a large brown spot on her skin She

Question 1.

Farrah noticed a large, brown spot on her skin. She has been playing tennis in the sun for several years without sun protection. She also frequently visited tanning beds and/or sunbathed without sun protection. She reported the discovery to a friend, who told her to apply the ABCD rule to determine whether or not she had malignant melanoma.

Part 1: Explain each letter in the ABCD(E) rule.

Part 2: If Farrah answers yes to C and D, how would YOU DESCRIBE the physical appearance of the spot?

Part 3: Farrah\'s friend told her that if her answer was no to the questions that were asked by the ABCD rule, she had nothing to worry about. Using the patients history (as presented), would you advise her to ignore the spot if her answers are negative? DEFEND YOUR ANSWER.

(HINT: What is the most important risk factor in developing skin cancer?)

Solution

Part 1: Explain each letter in the ABCD(E) rule.

In ABCD rule,

A represents asymmetry,

B represents border

C represents color and

D represents diameter.

Part 2: If Farrah answers yes to C and D, how would YOU DESCRIBE the physical appearance of the spot?

If Farrah answers are yes to C and D, then she has to go for physician to examine the spot immediately and it’s better to examine any unusual lesion on the skin.

Here yes to C means, pigmented spot is there with shades of black, brown, tan, and sometimes people will have the shades like blues and reds.

Yes to D means, the spot diameter is larger than 6 mm and it should be examined.

Part 3: Farrah\'s friend told her that if her answer was no to the questions that were asked by the ABCD rule, she had nothing to worry about. Using the patients history (as presented), would you advise her to ignore the spot if her answers are negative? DEFEND YOUR ANSWER.

If her answer is no to all the questions also, always there is a room for doubt. It is better to rule out any possibility of melanoma by consulting a good physician so that we should not suffer in future. Sometimes, due to very early stages, it might not be showing the sign of melanoma, it is highly recommended that she should check with physician.

As she is playing under sun for several years without sun protection, there is a risk of melanoma for us. Exposure to UV radiations increases the risk of developing melanoma