Melanoma and Quality of Life

Saw RPM, Bartula I, Winstanley JB, Morton RL, Dieng M, Lai-Kwon J, Thompson J, Mostafa N. In Handbook of Quality of Life in Cancer, edited by Angelos P. Kassianos, 439-66. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022.

Abstract

Melanoma is a skin cancer affecting mostly people of fair skinned ancestry. Treatment of melanoma at each stage of disease is very different, and therefore results in distinct physical and subsequently psychological and quality of life (QoL) issues. Surgery is the main treatment for primary melanoma and nodal metastases. The advent of new drug therapy (immune therapy and targeted therapy) for more advanced disease has significantly improved survival outcomes, albeit with side effects of treatment and therefore changed the QoL issues experienced by survivors of disease. This chapter aims to summarise these issues.