If you have been diagnosed with skin cancer you may well be uncertain about the treatment you will receive as, even if you have already discussed your treatment with your physician, you may still be reeling from all the technical and medical jargon that was thrown at you. It is also possible that you may not have taken in the information because of the shock following the diagnosis.
Here therefore is a brief outline of just some of the treatments which are typically used to treat skin cancer.
The precise treatment that you will receive is going to depend upon a number of different things which include your age and whether any cancer has spread to other parts of your body.
Your treatment may consist of surgery during which your surgeon may decide to remove the cancerous region itself together with some of the surrounding skin tissue. The amount of normal skin removed will be dependent upon the particular form of cancer found and how deep that cancer is. Usually an area of about one to two centimeters of surrounding skin will be removed.
Some types of skin cancer can be treated by freezing using a substance called liquid nitrogen or treated with drugs like Imiquimod which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use on superficial basal cell carcinoma.
A more extensive type of surgery might be needed where a sentinel lymph node is found to contain cancer cells after a biopsy of a suspect area. This technique is designed to remove lymph nodes close to the cancer along with affected skin and is generally followed up with radiotherapy.
Another recent development for skin cancer treatment is what is referred to as immunotherapy cancer vaccination although research into this form of treatment is still being conducted and it is not yet widely available. You may be given chemotherapy if your skin cancer has spread to other areas.
Although there is no definite prevention of skin cancer there are various things which you can do to reduce your chance of developing the disease and the most important yet often disregarded is to minimize the skin’s exposure to the sun.
Every one of us, regardless of the color or type of skin you have should make use of a sunscreen with a protection factor of not less than 15. It is also a good idea to wear protective clothing and remain out of the sun as much as you can, especially between 11am and 3pm when the sun’s rays are at their strongest. It is not advisable to make use of sun beds and sunlamps as these also give off harmful rays.
Lastly, keep an eye on your skin and pay special attention to any alterations to moles and lesions. If you notice any changes then you ought to visit your physician as quickly as you can so that treatment can be given
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If you have been diagnosed with skin cancer you may well be uncertain about the treatment you will receive as, even if you have already discussed your treatment with your physician, you may still be reeling from all the technical and medical jargon that was thrown at you. It is also possible that you may not have taken in the information because of the shock following the diagnosis.
Here therefore is a brief outline of just some of the treatments which are typically used to treat skin cancer.
The precise treatment that you will receive is going to depend upon a number of different things which include your age and whether any cancer has spread to other parts of your body.
Your treatment may consist of surgery during which your surgeon may decide to remove the cancerous region itself together with some of the surrounding skin tissue. The amount of normal skin removed will be dependent upon the particular form of cancer found and how deep that cancer is. Usually an area of about one to two centimeters of surrounding skin will be removed.
Some types of skin cancer can be treated by freezing using a substance called liquid nitrogen or treated with drugs like Imiquimod which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use on superficial basal cell carcinoma.
A more extensive type of surgery might be needed where a sentinel lymph node is found to contain cancer cells after a biopsy of a suspect area. This technique is designed to remove lymph nodes close to the cancer along with affected skin and is generally followed up with radiotherapy.
Another recent development for skin cancer treatment is what is referred to as immunotherapy cancer vaccination although research into this form of treatment is still being conducted and it is not yet widely available. You may be given chemotherapy if your skin cancer has spread to other areas.
Although there is no definite prevention of skin cancer there are various things which you can do to reduce your chance of developing the disease and the most important yet often disregarded is to minimize the skin’s exposure to the sun.
Every one of us, regardless of the color or type of skin you have should make use of a sunscreen with a protection factor of not less than 15. It is also a good idea to wear protective clothing and remain out of the sun as much as you can, especially between 11am and 3pm when the sun’s rays are at their strongest. It is not advisable to make use of sun beds and sunlamps as these also give off harmful rays.
Lastly, keep an eye on your skin and pay special attention to any alterations to moles and lesions. If you notice any changes then you ought to visit your physician as quickly as you can so that treatment can be given