A "lucky mole" around the mouth may actually be a "risk of cancer"? Be careful if it grows in these places!

Can a mole grow in the mouth? It is said that it can bring wealth? Doctors from West China: Fortune tellers say

The more hidden the mole is, the more wealth it will bring.

Netizen: "Then the mole in my mouth..."

Another netizen asked: "Can a mole grow in the mouth?"

Dr. Huaxi said

Moles do grow in the mouth.

But usually no pain or itching

It quickly grew larger, bulged, and ulcerated within a period of time...

I don't know if it will bring wealth or not.

May cause oral melanoma

Count the moles on our body. We can find a few on our face, arms, stomach, and some people's lips and inside their mouths. It seems that there is no place where moles cannot grow, only places we can't imagine.

Image source: Photo Network

This is because our skin, as well as the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and digestive tract are covered with melanocytes , which continuously produce melanin. When the melanocytes gather together, they form pigmented nevi on the skin and mucous membranes, which are the familiar black moles. Most of them are benign .

When the melanocytes of a mole become "bad", it forms a malignant melanoma. Although the chance of a melanoma turning into a malignant melanoma is extremely low , about 1:1 million, once it develops into melanoma, it is usually discovered in the late stage , and the mortality rate is very high.

Image source: Photo Network

The vast majority of melanomas occur in the skin, and only about one percent occur in our mucosal tissues. However, more than half of the melanomas that occur in mucosal tissues appear in the oral mucosa. Especially for us yellow people, melanomas that occur in the oral mucosa are more common than those that occur in the facial skin . Therefore, malignant melanoma of the oral mucosa is not uncommon in clinical practice.

Compared to melanoma that occurs on the skin on the face, neck, arms, etc., mucosal melanoma that grows in the mouth is rarely noticed by people, and most of them do not have any discomfort symptoms in the early stages.

By the time it is discovered, it has "silently" infiltrated into deep tissues, invaded deep mucosa and bone tissue, caused loose teeth, ulcers, bleeding, severe pain in the oral cavity, and is prone to metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes and systemic tumors, and may even endanger life in the end.

In terms of color:

Oral melanoma presents as a distinct bluish-black nodular mass

In terms of growth rate:

Oral melanoma grows very rapidly, darkens in color, and spreads in all directions

From the morphological point of view:

Generally presents as spots or nodules, often with ulceration on the surface

From the location of the disease:

Oral malignant melanomas mostly occur on the upper gums and hard palate, but in some cases the lesions occur on the cheeks, tongue, and lips.

There is currently no clear conclusion on the exact high-risk factors for oral melanoma, as well as effective preventive measures.

Most malignant melanomas originate from the malignant transformation of oral spots. However, friends with oral spots do not need to worry too much, because the incidence rate is very low .

However, it is still recommended that you pay attention to the following in your daily life:

1. Avoid long-term adverse mechanical stimulation in the mouth, especially some artificial adverse stimulation, such as picking with a needle, buying some three-no medicine soaks online, these improper operations may cause normal moles to become lesions;

2. Avoid long-term chronic inflammation in the oral cavity, such as periodontitis, oral ulcers, etc.;

3. When black spots appear on the oral mucosa, don’t panic. Go to the hospital and cooperate with the doctor for relevant examinations. It is generally recommended to completely remove them, and laser or drug burning is not recommended;

4. If you observe that the pigmented moles and black spots on the oral mucosa are growing, getting darker in color, or ulcerating and bleeding, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible and treat them in a timely manner.

at last

Friends with oral mucosal pigmented moles and dark spots

Don't be overly anxious or panic.

Watch for changes

Don't handle it yourself in an inappropriate way

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1] Chang AE , Karnell LH , Menck HR .The National Cancer Data Base report on cutaneous and noncutaneous melanoma: a summary of 84,836 cases from the past decade. The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer and the American Cancer Society.[J].Cancer, 2015, 83(8):1664-1678.

[2] Chen Shu, Mei Lingwei. Progress in targeted drug therapy for malignant melanoma[J]. Modern Medicine and Health, 2022, 38(7):5.

[3] Shi Fengdi, Gao Quanli. Research progress on immune-related adverse reactions of anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy for malignant melanoma[J]. Modern Oncology, 2022, 30(21):4014-4017.

[4] Santourlidis S, Schulz WA, Araúzo-Bravo MJ, et al. Epigenetics in the Diagnosis and Therapy of Malignant Melanoma.[J]. Int J Mol Sci. 2022;23(3):1531.

[5] Guo W, Wan H, Li C. Signal pathways of melanoma and targeted therapy[J]. Signal Transduct Target Ther, 2022(001):007.

[6] Ma Xuhui. Prognostic evaluation and targeted therapy of oral mucosal malignant melanoma[D]. Shanghai Jiaotong University, 2018.

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Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty