If you have been diagnosed with skin cancer you may well be unsure about the treatment that you will be getting because, even if you have already been over your treatment choices with your doctor, you may still feel lost due to the inability to absorb all the technical jargon that was used. You may not have been able to take in the information because of simple shock following the diagnosis.
Here therefore is a brief description of some of the treatments that are typically used when treating skin cancer.
The precise treatment that you will receive will depend upon various different factors including things like your age and whether or not any cancer has spread beyond your skin.
Treatment may include surgery in which the surgeon might decide to remove the cancer itself and also some of the skin from the surrounding area. The amount of normal skin removed will depend on the specific type of cancer found and how deep it is. As a rule an area of approximately one or two centimeters of surrounding skin is removed.
As well as conventional surgery, some skin cancers can be removed by freezing using a substance called liquid nitrogen or removed with drugs such as Imiquimod.
A wider ranging form of surgery may be needed if a lymph node is found to contain cancer cells after a biopsy of any suspect area. This form of surgery is designed to remove lymph nodes near to the cancer along with affected skin and is generally followed by a course of radiotherapy.
A recent development in the treatment of skin cancer is what is referred to as immunotherapy cancer vaccination although research into this particular form of treatment is still being conducted and it is not yet widely available. Chemotherapy could also be recommended if your cancer has spread into neighboring tissue.
There is no definitive form of prevention for skin cancer but there are several things which you can do to lessen your chance of developing the disease and the most important yet usually disregarded is to keep your skin covered if you are out in the sun.
All of us, regardless of the type or color of skin you have should use a sunscreen with a protection factor of not less than 15. You should also wear protective clothing and stay out of the sun as much as possible, particularly between 11 o'clock in the morning and 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the sun’s rays are stronger. It is not advisable to use sunlamps and sun beds as these also produce harmful rays.
Finally, keep a check on your skin and pay especial attention to any alterations to lesions and moles. If you are conscious of a change then you should visit your doctor as quickly as you can so that treatment can be started without delay
YourCancerQuestions.com provides answers to not just your questions about skin cancer but to cancer questions on a wide range of topics including breast, bone, testicular, bladder cancer and much more.
