UT Southwestern Medical Center offers melanoma patients some of the most advanced medical and surgical therapies available. UT Southwestern’s medical, radiation and surgical oncologists are widely respected by their peers as leaders in the use of radiation, chemotherapy and surgery for the treatment of malignant melanoma.

Our melanoma program is actively involved in groundbreaking research into the causes and cures for all types of skin cancer. UT Southwestern is a major contributor to ongoing research and partners with other research institutions like the John Wayne Cancer Institute to determine how innovative therapies can prevent or delay the recurrence of skin cancer in high-risk patients.

Every patient who enters the melanoma program at UT Southwestern is evaluated to determine their unique needs and therapy requirements. A team of physicians reviews the results of each patient’s diagnostic workup and precisely determines the best treatment options for their melanoma.

Most therapy options are available either at UT Southwestern or in the Dallas area, but for those that are not available at UT Southwestern, we facilitate transfer of the patient’s care to the most appropriate physician or research facility. Once therapy is completed patients with melanoma need careful monitoring of their skin and internal organs to be certain that if the cancer returns it can be treated effectively. In addition, patients with an individual or family history of melanoma can take advantage of UT Southwestern’s melanoma specialists and state-of-the-art medical facilities to actively prevent the occurrence or recurrence of skin cancer.

UT Southwestern’s melanoma and pigmented lesions program offers two specialized clinical practices:

• The Melanoma Center is the only center of its kind in the region. A team of physicians representing a variety of surgical and medical specialties staffs the center. Team members include dermatologists, dermatopathologists, surgical oncologists, head and neck surgeons, and medical and radiation oncologists.
  
  
• The Pigmented Skin Lesion Clinical Practice is the only clinical practice in the region to offer highly focused services to diagnose and treat patients and family members who are at risk for developing the disease. In addition to diagnosing melanoma, the clinical practice monitors individuals with suspicious moles or other pigmented lesions so that cancerous changes may be detected and treated early or prevented.

An important method of identifying melanomas in patients with pigmented skin lesions is by detecting changes in color and configuration. This is accomplished best by obtaining full-body photographs that are then used while examining patients to identify such changes. Full-body photographs are especially helpful in patients with large numbers of pigmented skin lesions, as early detection and biopsies allow physicians to find melanomas early, when treatment is most effective. The Pigmented Skin Lesion Clinical Practice employs advanced photographic techniques to obtain useful full-body photographs. Patients may be referred by physicians from outside UT Southwestern for this service, with the photographs returned directly to the referring physicians.