Vulvar Melanoma Is Increasing in Older Women
The national incidence of vulvar melanoma is on the rise in women aged over 60 years, climbing by an average of 2.2% per year during 2000–2016, Maia K. Erickson reported in a poster at the virtual annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.
These are often aggressive malignancies. The 5-year survival following diagnosis of vulvar melanoma in women aged 60 years or older was 39.7%, compared with 61.9% in younger women, according to Ms. Erickson, a visiting research fellow in the department of dermatology at Northwestern University, Chicago.
This is scary. And especially scary since when I go for my semi-annual skin check, my dermatologist, does not check under my panties. And no Gyn examinations are recommended over the age of 65. No wonder women my age are dying of melanoma! Time to get out the mirror and take a look.
Agree! But most women won’t know enough about this issue to “get out the mirror and take a look”.
That is for sure! They won’t go into the doctor until there is something large and persistent. I am a physician myself, and I have never thought to look in the nether regions for a melanoma. That area has certainly never received any sunlight!
My thoughts exactly. This is not an area of the female body a physician would think to look for melanoma.