Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that usually starts as a dark spot or mole on your skin. It is the most serious type of skin cancer and can spread to other parts of your body. If you find melanoma early, treatment works well and can lead to a cure.

Your doctor may call your skin cancer malignant melanoma, but it's often called melanoma for short.

Key points about treating melanoma

• If you have a melanoma, you'll need surgery to have it removed. Your surgeon will also take away normal-looking skin from around the melanoma.

• If your melanoma is thin (2 millimetres thick or less), then surgery that removes a small amount of normal-looking skin from around the melanoma works just as well as surgery that removes a lot of skin.

• If your doctor thinks your cancer has spread to your lymph nodes, you may need to have some taken out when you have surgery.

• If your melanoma is thick and your doctor thinks it might spread, you may need some other treatments after surgery.

• You may be offered high doses of a drug called interferon alfa-2b after surgery. But this drug is not widely available and has many side effects.

• You may also be offered injections of a vaccine after surgery to help kill cancer cells. Vaccines may not work as well as high doses of interferon alfa-2b. They are still experimental.

• If your melanoma has spread to other parts of your body, it is unlikely that treatment will cure you. Your doctor may advise you to have more surgery to help you feel more comfortable. To find out about this, see Surgery for melanomas that have spread to other organs.

• Taking care in the sun by wearing sunscreen and covering up may help to prevent melanomas.

Which treatments work best? We've looked at the best research and given a rating for each treatment according to how well it works. We've divided this information into two parts.

• Treatments for melanomas

• Treatments to prevent melanomas

For help in deciding which treatment is best for you, see How to use research to support your treatment decisions.

Treatments for melanomas

• Surgery to remove melanomas: If you have a melanoma, you'll need surgery to remove it. More...

• Low doses of interferon alfa-2b after surgery: You may be offered this drug if doctors think your melanoma could spread. More...

• High doses of interferon alfa-2b after surgery: You may be offered this drug if doctors think your melanoma could spread. More...

• Vaccines after surgery: These are injections to help your immune system recognise and kill melanoma cells. More...

We haven't looked at the research on this treatment in as much detail as we've looked at the research on most of the treatments we cover. (To read more, see Our method.) But we've included some information because you may have heard of it or be interested in it.

• Surgery for melanomas that have spread to other organs: Doctors will recommend this type of surgery only if they are sure it will help you. More...