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Types of
Treatment for Skin Cancer

The best treatment for skin cancer depends on the stage of cancer, your age, overall health and also personal preference after consultation with your dermatologist or doctor. Discuss with your doctor the potential risks and side effects of different skin cancer treatments.

How does Your Doctor Diagnose Skin Cancer?

Skin Cancer is divided into two groups:

nonmelanoma

melanoma

Sometimes skin cancer can be detected by your dermatologist or doctor simply by looking at your skin. But the most accurate method is by doing a biopsy. Your doctor will remove all or part of the suspicious mole or growth and send it to a pathologist to be analyzed.

How is Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Treated?

There are several factors to be considered for the option for treatment of skin cancer namely:

size, location and how the tumor appear under the microscope
how far the cancer has spread
whether it is a new or recurring cancer

Surgery

Mohs Micrographic Surgery : This procedure is performed by a dermatologic surgeon, a specially trained doctor. The doctor removes the skin growth layer by layer examining each layer under the microscope for cancer cells until no abnormal cells remain. The objective is to completely remove the tumor while preserving as much surrounding normal tissue as possible. It is the preferred treatment method for high risk or cosmetically sensitive areas such as face.

Excisional Surgery : The skin cancer is surgically removed along with a margin of normal appearing tissue surrounding the tumor. Following the procedure the specimen is then examined to ensure that all of the skin cancer has been removed.

Curettage and Electrodesiccation : This procedure scrapes off the surface of the skin cancer and gently burning or cauterizing the area with an electric needle to stop the bleeding and also destroys the cancer cells at the same time.

Cyrosurgery : A procedure in which tissue is frozen using liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide to destroy abnormal cells.

Laser Surgery : A surgical procedure that uses a precise, intense beam of light to vaporise growths.

Radiation Therapy

A treatment that uses high energy rays(such as X-rays) to kill or shrink cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy:

External beam focuses radiation from outside the body onto the skin tumor.

Internal radiation uses a radioactive substance that are placed directly into or near the cancer growth.

Chemotherapy

This treatment for skin cancer uses drugs to stop growth either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. For cancers limited to the top layer of the skin, creams or lotions containing anti-cancer agents is applied directly to the skin.

Other types of chemotherapy can be used to treat skin cancer that have spread to other parts of the body, for example:

Systemic Chemotherapy : drugs are injected into a vein or given by mouth

Regional Chemotherapy : where drugs placed directly into spinal column, an organ, body cavity(such as abdomen) and mainly affects cancer cells in those area.

Photodynamic Therapy

A photosensitizing chemical is applies or injected and allowed to interact with the tumor for several hours or days. Then the treated area is exposed to a light source that in turn activates the photosensitizing chemical and destroys the skin cancer.

Immunotherapy

A new treatment for skin cancer being tested in clinical trials. These immunotherapy drugs stimulates the patient's immune system to fight the cancer. Sometimes called biological therapy.

Warning

The above description of treatment for skin cancer is not intended as medical advice to replace the expertise and judgment of your doctor. Your doctor may have reasons for suggesting a treatment regime different from the above.

Most importantly, if you have risks factors for skin cancer talk to your doctor about screenings. Sometimes frequent screenings are recommended for all close family members of a person with history of skin cancer.