Melanoma and other Skin Cancer - Do YOU have it?

Cancer is a disease of a tissue i.e. skin, lung, cartilage, liver, bone etc... The cancereous cells grow with out regulation. They disregard the bodies regulatory signals for that tissue. Cancer cells invade local and distant tissues and destroy them (metastesize). These are malignant properties. Usually it takes time for these properties to manifest so the majority of people who are diagnosed with cancer are older though anyone at any age can aquire it.

It is easy to recognize a skin cancer sometimes. Often though, a doctor needs help. When that happens, the patient gets a biopsy. A biopsy is a surgical procedure done in a few minutes with local anesthesia, in the office. When I do one I often ask my patient the definition of minor surgery. Do you give up? It is surgery done to someone else. This usually gets a smile but there is a kernel of truth. The biopsy is to provide a dermatopathologist with a tissue sample (a piece of your abnormal skin) to prepare and examine in a special way so that the cellular characteristics of skin cancer are preserved and enhanced. The Pathologist ( a doctor that deals with the diagnosis of disease through examination of tissue and not patients directly) will be able to tell your physician if what you have is cancer or not and what type it is. This information guides the therapy for your problem. If you have the description you can look it up and understand more of what is going on. Wikipedia.org is a good place to start. If you have a skin biopsy, ask if a DERMATOpathologist will see your specimen - these are pathologists who specialize in analyzing biopsies just from skin.

More information on skin cancer



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The three most common skin cancers are Basal Cell, Squamous Cell and Melanoma. The best thing about skin cancer is that since it occurs in the cells of the skin, it is easiy seen. That means it can be treated early. Two forms, basal and squamous cell are local and rarely spread or cause death. Melanoma arises from the melanocytes that produce melanin the brown pigment in skin. Melanoma when it penetrates more than a millimeter deep (25 millimeters equals one inch) can spread to other body parts and is fatal. It must be detected early and removed surgically. How can you recognize a skin cancer?

Sun Protection factor, according to Medical Letter experts, is determined by the ratio of time, under controlled conditions, to develop a minimally detectable sunburn while wearing a sunscreen product.
How much ultraviolet light penetrates the sunscreen to reach the skin? SPF 15 = 1/15th of those rays or 7%, SPF 50 1/50 or 2% and SPF 100, 1/100 or 1%. How much more protective are SPF 50 or 100 than 15, 99-98% vs 93%.
The FDA tests use much much larger amounts of product that you or I wear! The inorganic physical sunscreens probably are best in the way we commonly use sunscreen. Those are Zinc oxide and Titanium dioxide. In the micronized form they are probably not applied heavily enough to be better than other products deemed less effective.
Tests prove that sunscreens when properly applied and reapplied do prevent Melanoma. This cancer is linked to the length of exposure, the intensity of exposure and how fair the skin is. Bottom line, don't let you kids get sunburned and even us older adults need to do more to protect ourselves from a largely preventable disease.

Melanocytes are primarily in the skin but also in the eye (on the retina) and in the gut. The picture shows a melanoma skin cancer on the neck. These melanin producing cells can become malignant and the result can be fatal. There are rules to help you decide if a "mole" or dark spot on your skin might be melanoma.
If is is larger that 5mm (about 1/2 an inch). Is it irregular in color.
Melanoma has multiple hues and isn't uniform brown but will be black, blue and red combinations. The edges are fuzzy. Most moles are distinct with the coloring ending sharply against normal skin. Melanoma seems to fade into normal skin. The melanoma skin tumors are often hard and can occur under finger or toe nails and on the bottoms of feet. If you have a new spot that is dark, has enlarged quickly, has indistinct edges and is hard, have it checked.
If you have a close relative, grandparent, parent or sibling with this diagnosis, get your moles and eyes checked. Have someone experienced look over your skin, head to foot without clothes on and in good light.

Basal cell skin cancer is very slow growing, minimally invasive and most easily cured. Most of the time it is easily removed by excision a "minor" surgical procedure usually done in the office. I usually refer excision to practicioners trained in plastic surgery technique when they are needed on the face. Basal cell can also be treated with cold or cryotherapy, topical chemotherapy creams, and MOHS, a type of laser therapy guided by a microscope.
Squamous cell skin cancer is a little more serious, but is treated in much the same way. With either basal cell or squamous cell skin cancers, if your physician removes it surgically, they will send the specimen removed to a pathologist to see if the margins or edges of the removed tissue are clear of tumor. If they are then nothing more has to be done.