It may be pigmented or non-pigmented. It most commonly appears on sun-damaged skin of the head and neck in elderly adults. This form of melanoma is curable when it is removed before invasion into the dermis. Metastasis the spreading of disease from one part of the body to another part. Melanoma metastasizes most often to lymph nodes, liver, abdomen, lungs, bone, skin, heart, and brain.
Monoclonal antibodies are still experimental in many instances.
Precursor a lesion that has the potential to develop into a melanoma. Precursor lesions include dysplastic nevi , benign compound nevi, small and large congenital nevomelanocytic nevi, and lentigo maligna . Most nevi are pigmented, but some are not. The brown color in the nevus is melanin . Other types of moles may be very large, or have irregular borders.