Surgery to remove melanoma tends to be the most successful treatment. In early cancer stages, your doctor will remove the cancerous area as well as some surrounding skin. A lymphadenectomy is a surgery that also may be done if you need to have lymph nodes removed. Chemotherapy might be done to kill remaining cancer cells, but more often, your doctor may use immunotherapy or targeted therapy instead. Immunotherapy uses your own immune system to kill cancer cells and might be used in addition to surgery. In targeted therapy, certain medications kill off cancer cells and shrink cancer. Radiation therapy might also be used to destroy the cancerous cells and prevent new cancer cells from growing.