The mole had appeared suddenly on Paradise's neck about three years earlier when she was pregnant with her first son. Seven months into her second pregnancy, the color and texture of the mole started to change. During a Christmas gathering, Paradise's sister and other family members commented that the mole had some darker spots and looked raised. "When other people noticed it changing, it scared me," Paradise said.

Despite the bad timing, Paradise realized she needed to ask her physician about the suspicious mole. Her primary care physician referred her to Claudia Hernandez, M.D., a dermatologist at Loyola's Oakbrook Terrace Medical Center.

"You just don't think it is going to happen to you," Paradise said. "I asked Dr. Hernandez 'you can't die from a mole can you?' I was surprised when she answered 'yes you can.'"

Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer, accounting for more than 80 percent of skin cancer deaths. More than 50,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in the United States, and about 8,000 people die from the disease, according to the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).

What makes melanoma so dangerous compared to other skin cancers is that it can spread to the blood stream and the lymph glands very rapidly while a mole is still small. Waiting a few months before calling the doctor can give melanoma a chance to invade a person's body. If detected at its earliest stage, melanoma can be removed and cured, but if the disease has spread to lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate is 30 percent to 40 percent. If the disease has spread to organs, the 5-year survival rate is 12 percent, according to AAD.

The exact cause of melanoma is not known. Even though it is strongly linked to excessive sun exposure, it can appear in places on the body that never see the light of day. People who are at greater risk for melanoma are those who have a large number of moles, atypical moles, fair skin, close relatives who have had melanoma, and a history of excessive sun exposure or tanning bed use.

After examining the mole, Hernandez arranged for Paradise to be evaluated only a few days later by June Robinson, M.D., a dermatologist who leads the team of physicians caring for patients in the Center for Skin Cancer at Loyola's Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center. Robinson has gained several years of experience evaluating moles with a high-tech diagnostic tool called epiluminescence microscopy (ELM). Loyola was the first and is still one of the few medical centers in the Chicago area that has the technology, which enables the physician to see a magnified image of the pigment structures below the surface of a mole. The information is extremely useful in determining if a biopsy is needed. Biopsy involves taking a small piece of tissue for evaluation in the laboratory.

Robinson not only uses ELM to evaluate suspicious moles, but also as a regular screening exam for patients who are at high risk of developing melanoma - people who have a strong family history, previous biopsies of pre-cancerous lesions or more than 50 moles. "Our years of ELM experience in providing care for those with an inherited condition of familial atypical mole syndrome allows us to diagnose melanomas at a very early phase," Robinson said. In Paradise's case: "If she had waited longer - which would have been easy for her to do with the baby coming - the melanoma would have gone deeper below the surface of the skin and may have spread to her lymph nodes," Robinson said.

Fortunately, the biopsy performed in early February showed that Paradise's mole had not penetrated to deeper layers of skin. The information from the biopsy helped Robinson plan a second procedure to remove wider margins of skin around the site to capture any cancer cells that may have been present. Again, to Paradise's relief, the second procedure yielded good results. There was no cancer spread in the wider margins of skin around the mole. Now, she will be followed with ELM exams to catch any other mole changes as soon as possible.

"She has an excellent prognosis because of her vigilance and the good care she received at Loyola," Robinson said.

"It was a scary time to be pregnant and have that happen," Paradise reflects, "but they took such good care of me. They held my hand, gave me hugs. I've never had such good medical care. I've never felt so comfortable or so respected. I could not have asked for anything more."

To make an appointment with a dermatologist at Loyola call (708) 216-8563.  

Two Ways to Reduce Your Risk

1. Routinely examine your skin to find moles early. In a well-lit room, use a wall mirror and a hand mirror to examine every inch of skin, including hidden spots such as between the toes, the soles of feet and the scalp.

2. Avoid excessive sun exposure by paying attention to the National Weather Service's daily Ultraviolet Index, which estimates the UV radiation expected to reach your community on a given day. If the number is above 5, take extra precautions. In general, avoid outside activity during peak sun hours from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., wear protective clothing and a wide-brimmed hat and apply sunscreen liberally and often.

-->Go back to issue index-->