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Treatment for cancer can cause many changes that may affect your sexuality. It can also change the physical or emotional closeness you share with another person. Different treatments can cause different physical and psychological changes that can affect how you feel, look, and function. These changes may be temporary, or they may last a long time.

Targeted therapy medicines attack specific proteins or cell functions that help cancer cells grow. Like chemotherapy, these medicines work throughout the body, but they work in different ways. This means they can sometimes be helpful even if chemotherapy isn’t working.

Targeted therapy uses medicines that target specific parts of cancer cells or nearby cells that would normally help the cancer grow and spread. Targeted medicines can sometimes be more helpful than standard chemotherapy (chemo) medicines.

Surgery is the most common way to treat melanoma. It might be the only treatment needed for early stage melanomas, and it's often part of the treatment for more advanced cancers.

Your healthcare provider may suggest immunotherapy if you have advanced melanoma.

Radiation therapy is not a common treatment for melanoma, but it can be helpful in some cases. It may be used on its own, or along with other types of treatment.

Oral cancer is often curable, especially if it is found early. Treatment can also help control oral cancer, meaning it may help control symptoms or reduce its spread. Once you know the type and stage of oral cancer you have, you and your healthcare provider will decide on a treatment plan. Read on to learn more.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation from X-rays or particles to kill cancer cells. Learn how the treatment is used for pancreatic cancer.

Once your healthcare provider knows you have cancer, the next step is to find out the grade and stage of the cancer. Staging and grading of cancer is important for deciding how to treat it, and how curable it is.