An analysis of data regarding over 153,000 adults found that postponing surgical treatment for more than 29 days led to lower survival rates for those diagnosed with stage 1 melanoma. Researcher Dr. Brian Gastman writes, “We saw significantly worse prognoses and outcomes for those surgically treated after 30 days of stage I melanoma diagnosis. Knowing for certain that a more expedient time to surgery to remove an early melanoma improves the chances of survival is a game-changer in treating this life-threatening skin cancer.”
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, October 2017