C43: Malignant melanoma of skin

C43.1: Malignant neoplasm: Malignant melanoma of eyelid, including canthus

The tissue in the body is made up of cells. With cancer, the cells multiply uncontrollably, which leads to a malignant neoplasm (abnormal growth of tissue) developing. The cancer cells can destroy the healthy tissue and spread throughout the body.

Melanoma causes special skin cells to multiply uncontrollably. In the skin, special cells produce a dark pigment. This pigment is to protect the body from sunlight. If a lot of sunlight gets on your skin, then these skin cells produce more pigment. This makes the skin brown. These melanin-producing skin cells also occur in the scalp. There the cells release the pigments to the hair roots. These pigments determine the color of the hair. If these melanin-producing cells multiply uncontrollably, a dark patch can appear on the skin.