I have a Stage 1 melanoma that measuress .51mm Anyone else had a melanoma this size?

Also how was the surgery? Did they get it all. Is the success rate of this one good?? It is located on my shoulder.

Stage 1 means it hasn't spread to your lymph nodes. Hopefully you are having this surgically removed. When it's shaved they cut through it and cancer can remain or worse it cannot be measured. The surgery is fairly simple and recovery almost within hours. It is extremely important that you are monitored. Any mole that itches, is larger the the head of a pencil, cannot be divided in half with equal sides, is discolored or black, or bleeds should be removed. The sooner a cancer is removed the better your chances for complete recovery. Check out mdanderson.com for more information. God bless you and keep you safe. This is a very scary cancer!

These are questions to be discussed with your doctor. There is not specific way any one person will react to having cancer or being treated for cancer.

Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes and, less frequently, of retinal pigment epithelial cells (of the eye, see uveal melanoma). While it represents one of the rarer forms of skin cancer, melanoma underlies the majority of skin cancer-related deaths. Despite many years of intensive laboratory and clinical research, the sole effective cure is surgical resection of the primary tumor before it achieves a thickness of greater than 1 mm.

Diagnostic punch or excisional biopsies may appear to excise (and in some cases may indeed actually remove) the tumor, but further surgery is often necessary to reduce the risk of recurrence. Complete surgical excision with adequate margins and assessment for the presence of detectable metastatic disease along with short and long term follow up is standard. Often this is done by a "wide local excision" (WLE) with 1 to 2 cm margins. The wide excision aims to reduce the rate of tumour recurrence at the site of the original lesion. This is a common pattern of treatment failure in melanoma. Considerable research has aimed to elucideate appropriate margins for excision with a general trend toward less aggressive treatment druing the last decades. There seems to be no advantage to taking in excess of 2 cm margins for even the thickest tumors
The success rates of this disease are -
Stage I/II: Of Invasive Melanoma, the Survival rate is 85-95%

1a: Less than 1.00 mm primary, w/o Ulceration, Clark Level II-III
1b: Less than 1.00 mm primary, w/Ulceration or Clark Level IV-V
2a: 1.00-2.00 mm primary, w/o Ulceration

After surgery your oncolotist also will suggest and give Chemotheraphy and radiation treatments. Since yours is i n the primary stage please do not fear or worry unnecessarrily. But you can not leave it unattended as CANCER IS STILL AN INIGMA. bEST WISHES FOR SPEEDY RECOVERY.