Common Causes And Risk Factors For Subungual Melanoma

Trauma To The Fingers And Toes

An individual who experiences trauma to their fingers and toes is at an increased risk of having subungual melanoma for a few reasons. The appearance of subungual melanoma can resemble the appearance of a nail that has been injured. This process causes an affected individual to seek treatment for the abnormality in their nail because they attributed it to being a bruise or hemangioma underneath the nail. Most patients seek medical attention after the mark does not resolve or grow out after a couple of weeks. Other symptoms that occur in individuals who have a subungual melanoma like thinning of the nail plate, nail bed separation, and cracking of the nail plate can also occur as the result of an injury, leading patients to delay having a physician examine it. It is also a viable assumption that trauma to the fingers and toes may bring an individual's attention to an already existing subungual melanoma lesion they had not noticed prior. Chronic or repeated trauma to the fingers and toes can play a role in the pathogenesis of subungual melanoma from repeated damage and repair processes of the tissues.