There are three possible explanations for the improved melanoma recognition when a clinician uses dermoscopy: first, the presence of early dermoscopy signs that become visible in melanoma much before the appearance of the classical clinical features; second, an increased attitude of clinicians to check more closely clinically banal-looking lesions; and third, an improved attitude of clinicians to monitor their patients. In this review, the light and the dark sides of melanoma screening are briefly discussed, including the need to find better strategies to decrease the number of unnecessary excision of benign lesions on one hand, and to finally decrease melanoma mortality rates on the other.

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These results suggest that diet quality may play a role in cutaneous melanoma etiology among women.

The possibility of an inverse association between vitamin D and risk of cancer and, in particular, of cutaneous malignant melanoma has been suggested, but results of epidemiologic studies are still conflicting.We examined the relation between dietary vitamin D intake and melanoma risk through a population-based case-control study (380 cases, 719 controls) in a northern region of Italy, a country with average vitamin D intake lower than in northern Europe or the US. We assessed average daily intake of vitamin D from foodstuffs using the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire.In this population, levels of vitamin D intake were considerably lower than those observed in recent US studies. We found an inverse relation between dietary vitamin D and melanoma risk in the sample as a whole, in both crude and adjusted analyses. In sex and age-specific analyses, this association appeared to be stronger among males and among older subjects.These findings suggest that, at the relatively low levels of intake observed in this sample, an inverse relation between dietary vitamin D and risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma may exist.

The overall efficacy of TNF-alfa inhibitors diminishes with time. The BMI affects the long-term survival rate of anti-TNF-alfa in psoriatic patients. A high BMI can be considered a potential predictor of drug discontinuation.