Living in your own skin. The experience of the body in melanoma patients: a systematic literature review

Background: Melanoma can impair patients' physical, psychological, interpersonal, and economic balance. The effects of surgical interventions and the development of skin metastases might detrimentally impact on their body image, an embodied mental representation that shapes one's identity and interpersonal relationships. Methods: This systematic review investigates the perception of body image in melanoma patients and the relationship between body image and other psychosocial variables. The literature search identified nine eligible articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis. The results are organized into five categories: body image concerns; body image and social functioning; body image and cancer-related variables; body image and sociodemographic variables; body image and correlation with other psychosocial outcomes. Results: Despite the small number of eligible articles and the heterogeneity of emerging results, our review suggests that body image concerns are connected to other psychosocial problems such as quality of life and emotional distress and might be influenced by several tumor-related and demographic variables. Conclusions: Guided by progressive understanding of the specific facets of melanoma patients' suffering, multidisciplinary teams should design targeted psychological interventions to address patients' needs and improve their experience of the disease.