Despite the tremendous progress in treating melanoma, approximately one third of patients don’t benefit from currently approved therapies. This includes the majority of people with rare forms of melanoma — melanomas that develop in the eye, nailbeds, palms, soles of the feet, and various mucosal membranes. Patients facing these subtypes tend not to respond as well to current treatments as patients with cutaneous melanomas that arise on sun-exposed skin. But as investigators continue to chip away at understanding what causes these melanomas and how they differ from UV-driven cutaneous melanomas, the hope is the better understanding they reap will be sown into improved treatments for these patients.
