DR. HARDY OF ACADEMY FOOT AND ORTHOTIC CLINICS SHARES SOME INFORMATION ABOUT MALIGNANT MELANOMA OF THE FOOT, THE DEADLIEST CANCER!

The next time you clip your toenails, take a closer look at the rest of your feet. An extra 60 seconds could save your life.

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS), says routine self-examinations of the feet are an important way to find skin cancer early, when it’s easiest to cure. Half of the people who learn they have melanoma of the foot die within five years because the cancer had already spread throughout their body by the time it was diagnosed.

Nearly 60,000 people will learn they have melanoma this year. It’s not known how many of those cases will involve the foot, but more than 8,100 melanoma patients will die… nearly one death every hour. If melanoma is detected in its earliest stages, 92 percent of patients are alive after five years.
Unlike many other types of cancer, melanoma strikes people of all age groups, even the young. Routine foot self-exams increase the likelihood of noticing suspicious moles, freckles or other spots.

Focus on the three most common areas for foot melanoma: the soles, between the toes, and around or under the toenails. Melanoma can develop anywhere on the body including areas that receive little sun exposure, such as the feet and ankles. If a mole, freckle or spot starts to change over the course of a month and becomes asymmetrical or changes its border, color, diameter or elevation, contact Dr. Hardy at Academy Foot and Orthotic Clinics at 416-465-8737 immediately. Those are the ABCDEs, or signs, of melanoma.

Academy Foot and Orthotic Clinics recently invested in two dermascopes for the early detection and diagnosis of malignant melanoma.  Marz Hardy, D.Ch., B.Sc., Podiatric Medicine actually diagnosed one patient whose Medical Doctor thought it was a wart.  Unfortunaltely this lady passed away as she had the cancer for over 3 years before it was properly diagnosed.