Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer with incidence rates rising by 360% in the last 30 years and projected to increase by a further 7% between 2014 and 2035.1 Patients are referred to dermatology to make the diagnosis, excise the primary tumour and offer clinical surveillance. However, when melanoma spreads beyond loco‐surgical regional control, patient care is then transferred to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) including oncologists, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, radiologists and histopathologists.
At any point during the patient's journey, from diagnosis through to treatment of metastatic melanoma, dermatological input is required. The recent emergence of targeted treatments, immunotherapies and combination regimes has revolutionized clinical outcomes for patients with metastatic disease; however, as seen in most systemic cancer treatments, this has also unveiled a plethora of cutaneous side‐effects.
These cutaneous toxicities have garnered considerable attention, due to frequent occurrence, visibility and impact on the physical and psychological health of patients with melanoma, resulting in dose reduction or cessation of treatment.
The rapid expansion of melanoma treatments and the increasing number of cutaneous side‐effects that accompany such treatments has left dermatologists and oncologists feeling ill‐equipped to recognize and manage the wide spectrum of complications alone. Instead, oncologists and dermatologists should work alongside each other to allow prompt diagnosis, reporting and treatment of dermatology‐related treatment side‐effects for improved patient outcomes.
