skincancer

Description:

Melanoma is a serious type of skin cancer which, if not removed early while it is thin, spreads internally and is usually fatal. It is often ignored until too late because, in the early stages, it may look harmless and cause no discomfort. Many people don't realize that something small on their skin may kill them if not treated promptly.
Melanoma can occur on any skin surface. In men, it is often found on the trunk (the area from the shoulders to the hips) or the head and neck. In women, melanoma often develops on the lower legs. Melanoma is rare in black people and others with dark skin. When it does develop in dark-skinned people, it tends to occur under the fingernails or toenails, or on the palms or soles. The chance of developing melanoma increases with age, but this disease affects people of all age groups.

Causes/Risks:

Moles: A mole (nevus) is a benign skin tumor. Moles are not usually present at birth, but begin to appear in children and teenagers. Having certain types of moles makes a person more likely to develop melanoma. Fair skin: The risk of melanoma is about 20 times higher for whites than for African Americans. This is because the melanin of darker skin offers some protection. Whites with red or blond hair and fair skin that freckles or burns easily are at especially high risk. But people with dark skin can also develop melanoma.
Family history: The risk of melanoma is greater if one or more of a person's close relatives (mother, father, brother, sister, child) have been diagnosed with melanoma.
Immune suppression: People who have been treated with medicines that suppress the immune system, such as organ transplant patients, have an increased risk of developing melanoma.
Too much exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation: The main source of UV radiation is sunlight. Tanning lamps and booths are another source. People with too much exposure to light from these sources are at greater risk for all types of skin cancer, including melanoma.
Age: About half of all melanomas occur in people over the age of 50. However, young people (ages 20 to 30) can also have melanoma. In fact, melanoma is one of the most common cancers in people less than 30 years of age.

Symptoms: Frequently known as the black cancer, the most characteristic feature associated with a melanoma is the black color of the skin lesion. Often, the first sign of melanoma is a change in the size, shape, color, or feel of an existing mole. Most melanomas have a black or blue-black area. Melanoma also may appear as a new, black, abnormal, or "ugly-looking" mole.

Treatment: When melanoma is suspected, a biopsy (removal of a tissue specimen and examination under a microscope) is performed. Small growths are removed entirely, but only a small piece is removed from larger growths. In either case, a pathologist examines the tissue microscopically to determine if the growth is a melanoma. Surgery can remove the entire melanoma; if the melanoma hasn't spread, the cure rate approaches 100 percent. However, anyone who has had a melanoma is at risk of developing others. Therefore, such people need regular skin examinations.

Basal Cell Carcinoma
Copyright 2001 by Beckie Staley

Basal cell carcinoma is a common form of skin cancer. It begins in the basal cells of the skin, which are round cells within the skin surface. It is slow growing and rarely spreads to other parts of the body. More than 90 percent of skin cancers in the United States are basal cell carcinoma.

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is the main cause of skin cancer. Artificial sources of UV radiation, such as sunlamps and tanning booths, can also cause skin cancer. Also people living where the sun provides more UV radiation are more apt to be afflicted with skin cancer. In the United States, for example, skin cancer is more common in Texas than it is in Minnesota, where the sun is not as strong. Worldwide, the highest rates of skin cancer are found in South Africa and Australia, areas that receive high amounts of UV radiation.

Protection from the sun and artificial UV radiation should begin during childhood, because the damaging affects start at a young age, though you may not show signs of the damage till after the age of 50. However, skin cancer can affect anyone at any age. Most commonly affects fair-skinned persons, and seldom occurs in African Americans.

These tumors don't spread quickly. Basal cell carcinomas often appear as flat, firm, pale areas or small, raised, pink or red, translucent, shiny, waxy areas that may bleed following minor injury. They may have one or more visible irregular blood vessels, may have a depressed area in their center, and may have blue, brown, or black areas. Large basal cell carcinomas may have oozing or crusted areas.

if a basal cell cancer is left untreated, it can grow into nearby areas and invade the bone or other tissues beneath the skin. After treatment, basal cell carcinoma can come back in the same place on the skin. Also, new basal cell cancers can start elsewhere on the skin. Thirty-five to fifty percent of people diagnosed with one basal cell cancer will develop a new skin cancer within five years of the first diagnosis.

A doctor can often recognize a basal cell carcinoma simply by looking at it. A biopsy (removal of a tissue specimen and examination under a microscope) is the standard procedure for confirming the diagnosis.

In the office, a doctor can usually remove all the cancer by scraping and burning it with an electric needle (curettage and electrodesiccation) or by cutting it out. Before performing these procedures, the doctor anesthetizes the area. Rarely, radiation treatment is used. For recurrent tumors and scar-like basal cell carcinomas, microscopically controlled surgery (Mohs' surgery) may be required.

Creams used to treat the cancer, such as fluorouracil, aren't considered appropriate therapy because they sometimes allow the cancer to spread under the healed surface of the skin.