What are the early symptoms of vulvar melanoma?

When the vulva is rubbed by underwear or external objects, many diseases will develop. Mild diseases include vulvitis and vulvar itching, while serious diseases include vulvar melanoma, which is a cancer of the vulvar skin and a malignant disease. Patients must detect the symptoms of the disease in the early stages, otherwise the disease will develop to the point where it cannot be treated. So what are the early symptoms of vulvar melanoma? The early symptoms of vulvar melanoma are:

The biological behavior of vulvar malignant melanoma is significantly different from that of melanoma in other parts of the body, and the prognosis is significantly worse than that of the latter. Melanoma is a rare malignant tumor arising from neural crest melanocytes. Melanocytes are mainly located in the epidermis of the skin and embedded between basal cells. Therefore, malignant melanoma is prone to occur in the skin and mucous membranes near the skin.

The symptoms of vulvar melanoma are similar to those of other vulvar malignancies. Although vulvar melanoma may be asymptomatic and discovered incidentally during physical examination, the most common complaint is a vulvar mass, followed by vulvar bleeding or itching. Vulvar ulcers, difficulty urinating, pain, headache, and weight loss are less common. These symptoms often occur in patients in the later stages of the disease. In the late stages of the disease, swelling may occur in the groin area due to tumor metastasis. Some patients with preexisting moles may experience enlarged moles and other changes. Rafnarsson-Olding reported 198 cases of vulvar melanoma, of which 34.8% had symptoms of vulvar bleeding, 28.3% had a history of vulvar masses, 15.2% and 13.6% of patients felt vulvar itching and burning irritation, respectively. Urinary discomfort and vaginal discharge accounted for 12.1% and 10.6%, respectively. The incidence of ulcers, pain, local darkening, etc. did not exceed 5%.

Stages of vulvar melanoma:

1. Clinical staging

The earliest and simplest staging system: Stage I: The tumor is limited to the vulva, with or without satellite lesions within 2 cm of the primary lesion; Stage II: The tumor spreads to the regional lymph nodes, also including skin or subcutaneous nodules that are more than 2 cm away from the primary tumor and located within the regional lymphatic drainage of the original lesion; Stage III: The tumor metastasizes beyond the range of regional lymph nodes.

2.FIGO staging and TNM staging.

3. Microscopic staging In 1969, Clark proposed five invasion grades according to the degree of invasion of malignant melanoma on the papillary dermis, reticular layer and subcutaneous fat layer, and the different prognoses of the patients involved. In 1970, Breslow proposed to estimate the prognosis by the product of tumor thickness (measured on the deepest section of invasion) and the longest diameter of the tumor, and also divided melanoma into five grades. That is to say, Clark graded according to the anatomical markings of the skin and Breslow graded according to the thickness of tumor invasion. However, due to the lack of well-defined dermal papillae in the skin of the labia majora, Chung et al. proposed the Breslow modified grade, Clark grade, Breslow grade and Chung grade system.

The early symptoms of vulvar melanoma are already well understood. Many patients do not find any abnormalities in the vulva in the early stages of the disease, but they can observe the skin color of the vulva. Patients can observe the vulva when taking a bath or defecating. In fact, just pay attention and take a look or feel any discomfort. You can find the symptoms of the disease and then go to the hospital for examination to confirm the disease, which is very effective and will not lead to misdiagnosis.