Melanoma on the bottom of my foot?

It started as a mole on the instep near my heal and grew darker and larger over the last few years. I saw a Dermatologist today who cut it out immediately and said he was fairly certain it was a melanoma; further that this is the most deadly form of skin cancer. As I await the biopsy results, I need to know more about what this means as far as treatment, spread?, stats, etc. Any helpful information?

You will get to know where you exactly stand on receiving the biopsy result. Only if confirmed it is Melanoma then treatments can start.
Firstly a dermatologist is not enough to treat the disease. You have to consult an Oncologist preferably of Surgical. The course of treatment has to be decided on getting the confirmation about the stage and grade of the disease. All usual treatments for any cancer - Surgery, Chemotherapy, Radiation Therapy may be given depending on the position.

Surgery: 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.

Chemotherapy: Various chemotherapy agents are used, including dacarbazine (also termed DTIC), immunotherapy (with interleukin-2 (IL-2) or interferon (IFN)) as well as local perfusion are used by different centers. They can occasionally show dramatic success, but the overall success in metastatic melanoma is quite limited.

Radiation therapy is often used after surgical resection for patients with locally or regionally advanced melanoma or for patients with unresectable distant metastases. It may reduce the rate of local recurrence but does not prolong survival.

On the whole it is curable and proper treatment methods are only to be adopted.

BEST OF LUCK AND WISHES FOR EARLY RECOVERY.

you can look that stuff up on line and read many different medical sites. good luck

If it is caught early, you have a good chance of it not coming back. It really all depends on timing though. If it is malignant, it may have spread systemically to another part of your body. But if the dermatologist had got it out entirely, you should be free of cancer! If you find out how far the mole went into your skin, you have a better way of knowing. If it was less than 5mm deep, then you can be 100% cured! but wait for biopsy resaults, its the only true way to tell.

The foot is a frequent location for melanomas. Hopefully your doc did a full body map of your skin for you. Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer, but until the tests come back there is nothing that anyone can tell you. I know that that is not what you want to hear, but every illness is unique to the individual who has it. Sorry, and I hope your doc is wrong about it being melanoma.

If it is Melanoma they will take more out to get a "clean margin" and then biopsy again to make sure they got it all. Depending on the depth, it may be done in the doctors office or as an outpatient. Ask for a copy of your biopsy to see your stage and depth, then go to www.cancer.org or google Melanoma, there you will find lots of information on what the typical treatment will be for your stage, it varies greatly.

go to health food store and drastically change your diet. ask about the "Hallelujah" diet, its basically a vegetarian diet but get off white flour and refined sugar immediately! No aspertame !! No diet sodas or sodas period. if it isnt organic or organically grown DONT eat it. Its hard to do at first, its expensive a bit, but you are now in a situation that requires a lifestyle change!! but youll feel 100% better and your body will kill off any remaining cancer cells but YOU have to enable your body to do that. Even though your life is not in danger now do it to keep it from spreading. Do it! It is hard at first, but it will save your life.