Better Understanding Of Skin Cancer To Come Out Of Myth

Better Understanding of Skin Cancer to Come Out Of Myth
Cancer is the most dreaded disease for humans and the tumor which develops in our body squeezes all your energy and happiness out of you. Worldwide billions of people die due to cancer. There are so many researches which have been happening to cure the disease and to eradicate its existence in human body at the very moment it gets traced. Government has been spending lot of money on research and development of a better cure and medicines. Cancer is nothing but a tumor which occurs in human body and keeps spreading rapidly over the effected parts. There are many types of cancer. Some are very dangerous in nature and few can be cured easily. One among such is Skin Cancer which is the most common Cancer diagnosed in America and the matter of fact is that it is the most easily preventable cancer. People just fear the word Cancer which makes them more ill when they are required to be optimistic by heart.

In United States of America, Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer. More than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually. Ironically there are more new cases of skin cancer then other cancers of Breast, prostate and lungs etc. Reports depict that one (1) among every Five (5) citizen of America suffers from Skin cancer. In 2000 A.D Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming together experienced 390,000 cases of skin cancer compared to other provinces in USA. Almost 800,000 people has a history of suffering with melanoma and 13 million are living with a history of non- melanoma skin cancer. Non-Melanoma is more prevalent and cases of it come almost every day.

You can categorize Non-Melanoma into 2. It is Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).  Below are some facts and figures which have been mentioned to give a clear picture of both the cases. Let us start us with the former.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC)

It is the most common form of skin cancer and is also the most common cancer in the world with ever rising numbers. It can cause significant destruction and disfigurement by invading surrounding tissues so it is still considered as malignant.

To make it simpler a person can categorize it into 3 groups, based on location and difficulty of therapy:

  • Superficial BCC- Very responsive and only BCC which can be treated with topical chemotherapy.
  • Infiltrative BCC- Difficult to treat with conservative methods such as electrodessication and curettage.
  • Nodular BCC- It is the encounter morphologic features of several variants of basal-cell cancer in the same tumor.

It is the most common cancer in Caucasians, Hispanics, Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian populations. Risk of becoming BCC affected arises due to the following factors:

  • Blue or green eyes.
  • Family history of skin cancer.
  • Weakened immune system.
  • Received radiation therapy.
  • Exposure to coal tar, pitch, creosote, or arsenic.

It does not travel through your blood stream for this reason it can be treated promptly with dermatologic surgical techniques. Biopsy is required to diagnose skin cancer. Exposure to sunlight is the factor in about two-thirds of skin cancer and only one- third occurs in non-sun-exposed areas, therefore doctors recommend sun screens with at least SPF 30.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC)

It is the second most common type of skin cancer; together these two are referred as no melanoma skin cancer. Among the one million cases of skin cancer diagnosed in USA, about 20% will be SCC. It is mainly caused by exposure to the sun’s Ultra Violet (UV) rays. Factors involved in occurrence of SCC are as follows:

  • Fair skin.
  • Blonde or red hair; blue or green eyes.
  • History of indoor tanning.                                                                                             
  • Diagnosed with actinic keratoses (AKs).
  • Family history of skin cancer.
  • Weakened immune system (immunosuppression).

History of exposure to coal tar products or arsenic. It is also referred to as "epidermoid carcinoma" and "squamous cell epithelioma". It is more aggressive on persons those who are suffering from lymph proliferative disorders (i.e. leukemia) regardless of their location. Other form of cancers such as Head and Neck cancer, Esophagus cancer, Lung cancer and in Prostate develops due to SCC. An estimated 700,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the US, resulting in approximately 2,500 deaths. Males are affected with SCC at a ratio of 2:1 in comparison to females. Aging being the main reason for this disease, peak incidence is usually around 66 years old.

Mohs Surgery is the common and frequently practiced treatment of choice for Squamous cell carcinoma. Method is used for the treatment of SCC in mouth, neck and throat. And it has been successful in most of the cases. The advantage of this surgery is that it allows the excellent amount of surrounding healthy tissue to remain intact reducing the size of the scar. It allows for the removal of skin cancer with lesser surgical margin and a high cure rate. So it is always better to visit a doctor when a person feel the symptoms on him or her and if diagnosed at a right time then it can be cured in proper way without any hassle and complications.
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