Archive for the 'Skin Cancer' Category

How to Manage Skin Cancer Symptoms and Treatments

Millions of people are affected by skin cancer. Each year the number of skin cancer cases increases, highlighting the need for an effective way to manage both the symptoms and the treatment. Fortunately, there is an easy way to keep tabs on this disease.

First, understand that there are three types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Each one can be treated if detected early enough. Both the squamous cell carcinoma and the insidious melanoma can spread to other parts of the body. Once skin cancer spreads, it is much more difficult to treat, so early detection is vital.

Second, recognize the most common causes of skin cancer: heredity (if there is a history of skin cancer in your family, your chances of contracting it are higher than normal), damage to DNA, exposure to ultraviolet rays, over-exposure to sunlight, and exposure to certain deadly chemicals. If any of these causes sound like they might apply in your case, pay close attention to the skin cancer symptoms described next.

Third, be aware of the common symptoms of skin cancer: skin discoloration, blotches and patches on the skin, irritation and redness. Melanoma occurs in moles on your body. The mole may change color or size, and may start bleeding. Be very watchful for any of these sorts of changes.

Fourth, consider the standard and alternative treatment options that are available to treat skin cancer. Most melanomas need to be surgically removed. However other skin cancers may be treated by removing affected and surrounding tissue. Radiation therapy and cryotherapy may also be available if the cancer is low risk and treated early. In cases where cancer has already spread and metastasized, then surgery and/or chemotherapy may be required.

So, how do you stack the odds in your favor? By managing your symptoms and treatment results carefully and systematically. Keep a journal of any symptom of skin cancer that you may encounter. For instance, the first time you see any oddity on your skin — such as the appearance of a splotch on the skin or a discoloration or change in a mole — make a note in a journal. Then on a weekly basis keep track of any changes in size, shape or color.

Having an ongoing journal gives you an objective and precise history of when and how conditions on your skin have developed. This will be invaluable when you consult a doctor or dermatologist. Then, be sure to make an appointment with a doctor or dermatologist and get it checked out. Skin cancer is not one of those things that will go away on its own. It starts out with the greatest likelihood of being treatable. As time goes by, it gets less and less easy to treat it. Delaying the consultation with your doctor could cost you your life!

Once a course of treatment has been prescribed for you, keep another journal in which you describe the results. Have the symptoms gone away? Are they better? Worse? If a mole was removed, have other similar moles appeared? Have any other skin discolorations become evident?

If you are taking medication, keep a record of what you take and when. Is it helping the symptoms? Are there any side effects? Keep track of when side effects occur and how severe they are. Having this information handy will help your doctor prescribe the treatment that best addresses your overall health.

Setting up journals like the ones described here is easy to do. You can use a paper worksheet, a computer word processing program, or even a spreadsheet program like Excel.

You owe it to yourself to take an active role in managing your own health. Skin cancer is a serious disease, and you need to use every tool at your disposal to make sure you get the best health care possible.

What is Skin Cancer and Who is Most at Risk?

If you have read a newspaper or listened to the news over the last few years, then you will know that there are always constant warnings telling us to protect our skin against skin cancer. Whilst many people do listen to these warnings, there are still a shocking amount of people who still ignore them.

If you are one of those people that do ignore the warnings you are likely to be thinking that there is no chance of you getting the cancer and that there is no harm in missing an application or two of sun tan lotion. After all, skin cancer takes ages to develop doesn’t it?

Skin Cancer and its Various Forms

Skin cancer is not as rare as some people think that it is. Whilst it is true that staying in the sun unprotected for a little amount of time, rarely leads to skin cancer, it still can occur. There are different forms of skin cancer, though some are extremely rare. The three most common types of skin cancer include:

Melanoma

This is less common than the other two types of skin cancer, though it can be a lot more serious. It develops from the melanocytes in the skin and is usually seen as a pigmented lesion with an irregular shape in the skin. This is definitely the most potentially harmful cancer as it can spread to various different areas within the body. If treated early, the good news is that this type of cancer has a very high cure rate, so get to the doctors as soon as possible for your best chance of recovery!

Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This is usually seen within any part of the body which is exposed to excessive sun. Often occurring in the hands, lower lip, and the forehead, this type of cancer appears as a red bump or an ulceration of the skin which does not heal. The cancer if left untreated can spread to lymph nodes within the affected area.

Basal Cell Carcinoma

Basal Cell Carcinoma is by far the most common type of cancer you are likely to get and it usually appears as a small bump which has a pearly colored appearance. Usually the cancer is found on areas of the body which have had excessive sun exposure. This type of skin cancer does not usually spread to other parts of the body, and will only spread to the skin around the actual cancer.

Overall, Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common skin cancer but it is not the most serious. Usually people with fair skin are more at risk than others of contracting the cancer, especially people with freckles. Obviously, the longer you expose your skin to the sun without sufficient protection, the more at risk you are of developing skin cancer.

How to Prevent Yourself from Getting Skin Cancer and the Treatments Available

It is really easy to protect yourself against skin cancer, so really there is no excuse for not preventing it. Using an adequate amount of sun protection lotion is a must, and unfortunately many people simply do not bother with it. There seems to be some confusion between how much you should use and what protection factor you should go for. Generally, children and people with fair skin need to be using a higher protection factor than other people. People with darker skin do not tend to get skin cancer as often as people with lighter skin so they do not need a high factor sun lotion.

Sunbeds are also a cause of skin cancer, though cases are rare. So if you do use a sunbed, it is important that you limit your use of it, and contact your doctor to see how often they recommend you should use it.

When out in the sun do not forget to protect your face too. Applying lotion to the ears, nose and neck will help to protect those sensitive areas from the sun.

If you do notice any changes in your skin such as moles, lesions or sores which do not heal, it is always better to consult your doctor immediately. If caught early, most skin cancer can be cured. There are various forms of treatment for skin cancer including surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The treatment which you will receive depends upon your age, health and the size of the cancer. However, surgery is the most common form of treatment and it is usually done as an outpatient procedure.

How Do You Know If Your Skin Cancer Is Potentially Fatal?

Technically speaking, all skin cancer is potentially lethal if not treated. However, there are more serious forms of the condition, though they are a lot rarer.

Mycosis Fungoides

Mycosis Fungoides is an extremely rare form of skin cancer and it tends to affect twice as many men as it does women. Many people assume that it is an innocent fungal infection when they first hear the name; however it is in fact a much more sinister condition which is a type of cutaneous T cell Lymphoma.

Generally a cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma is an uncontrollable growth within the skin of the T cells within the body. Whilst most people do not notice any change to their daily life once they do have Mycosis Fungoides, it still does need to be treated as soon as possible.

Who Mycosis Fungoides affects the Most and what causes it:

Mycosis Fungoides seems to affect black skinned people more than fair skinned people, and as mentioned earlier, it tends to affect men more than women.

Whilst it is possible for the condition to strike at any age, it does seem to affect older people generally over the age of fifty. Why the condition appears is currently unknown but you definitely cannot pass it on to anybody else. The condition is also not hereditary and the symptoms do tend to vary from person to person.

Itching seems to be the most common form of symptom in most people, and the condition itself seems to appear in various stages. During its early stages, the skin will develop small patches of redness, though in darker skins the patches may simply just look darker than usual.

The patches are generally extremely itchy and you may notice that some patches are raised from the skin. They tend to appear mainly on the buttocks, under the arms, on the hips and on the chest.

The second stage usually includes skin tumors. The color of the lumps seems to now be a violet color and they are also raised. They are sometimes ulcerated, though that does not happen all the time.

Next is the redness stage where as well as skin patches and raised lumps, large sections of the skin also turn red. These areas of the skin also tend to be really itchy and they often look quite scaly too. You may also notice that the folds of skin on your face and in the palms of your hands become quite thick and they could even crack.

Finally, if not treated, the condition tends to spread to other parts of the body and usually the first parts of the body to be affected are the lymph nodes.

These then become inflamed and at this stage they can become cancerous. If they are cancerous, the condition can spread to the liver, the lungs and even the bone marrow.

Usually, it takes around six years to diagnose Mycosis Fungoides from the start of the symptoms appearing. This can make it difficult to treat early and as mentioned, people generally do not know they have the condition and so their normal lives are usually not disrupted.

It is extremely common to confuse the condition with other conditions and usually in order to fully diagnose this condition; a skin sample will need to be taken.

Usually if caught early, steroid creams can be used to clear up the condition, though if it is cancerous, chemotherapy may need to be used. As rare as it is, Mycosis Fungoides does occur in some people and it does take an extremely long time to realize that you actually have it.

It usually does not turn out to be fatal, but if it is left untreated for an extremely long length of time from diagnosis, it can unfortunately lead to death.

Any type of skin cancer is potentially dangerous, you just have to catch it early enough and look out for any symptoms whatsoever that give the condition away.