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The cancer cells grow by dividing themselves (cloning), and then by invading between nearby healthy cells, growing deeper into the skin.
Eventually the tumour may grow down into the lower layer (dermis) of the skin. Then cancer cells can enter the blood stream or the lymphatic system. Because the lymph and blood systems cover the whole body, melanoma can be carried to other parts and start growing there too.
It is hard to predict where it may spread to. Melanoma is a unique cancer in that it can spread to almost any organ in the body. It can occur in the brain, the lungs, the lymph glands, the liver, the abdomen or the bone. It can also spread to separate areas within the skin.
Early treatment is therefore important, because otherwise the cancer will spread and is life-threatening.
When cancer cells from a tumour settle in other parts of the body and start growing there, they are called secondary cancers (metastases). Doctors call cancer that is found after it has spread advanced cancer.
