Melanoma Monday 2023: Date, History, Activities and Facts
Source: Newsd, May 2023
Melanoma Monday 2023: The American Academy of Dermatology created Melanoma Monday, which occurs on the first Monday in May May 1 this year three weeks prior to National Safe Sun Week, to raise awareness of the disease’s symptoms, causes, and prevention, and the day has become associated with wearing black clothing. Melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer, affects one in fifty Americans at some stage in their lives. There are numerous ways to prevent melanoma, so spend extra time today learning how to lower your risk!
HISTORY OF MELANOMA MONDAY
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, did not enter recorded annals until the fifth century B.C. When Hippocrates first described the disease, he used the Greek words’melas’ and ‘oma,’ which mean ‘dark’ and ‘tumour,’ respectively. There were few to no treatment options.
Prior to the 18th century, when physician John Hunter first excised a metastatic melanoma, very little additional knowledge of melanoma was gained. Although his procedure was successful, he was unsure of precisely what he had accomplished. He referred to the melanoma as a “cancerous fungous excrescence,” and it wasn’t until 1968 that the preserved tumour was identified as melanoma.