What Does Skin Cancer Look Like?
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Skin cancer can look like a shiny scar.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Sometimes cancer on skin looks like an open sore that bleeds, crusts
over and doesn't heal properly.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Sometimes cancer appears as a reddish irritated spot usually on the
shoulder, chest, arm or leg.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Skin cancer can look like a pink patch on your face, lips or ears.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Pre-cancerous cancer lesions often appear as red scaly spots on the
face, neck or back of the hands.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Skin cancer can look like a small growth with and elevated border and
an indented center. As it becomes larger, tiny blood vessels develop on the
surface.
Q: What does skin cancer look like?
A: Sometimes skin cancer appears as a mole that appears after the age of
forty as well as any moles that change shape or color, are multicolored,
black, white or translucent, have a ridge around the edge, bleed, itch or
are irritated by clothing.
Because skin cancer can appear in so many forms, it is not easy to
self-diagnose. If you are "at risk", it is important to include a skin check
in your annual medical examination or ask for a referral to a dermatologist.
How do I know if I am at risk of getting skin cancer?
- Overexposure to the sun causes 90% of most forms of skin cancer.
Ultraviolet rays disrupt the genetic material in the skin cells causing
tissue damage.
- People who have had severe or blistering sunburns in childhood are
twice as likely to develop skin cancer later in life.
- Those with blond or red hair, fair skin and blue or green eyes are
most at risk because they have less protective pigment in their skin.
- Certain medications make the skin more susceptible to sun damage.
These include antibiotics, antidepressants, diuretics, antihistamines,
sedatives, estrogen and skin ointments such as retinoic acid.
- Well-educated, white-collar men have the highest risk of developing
melanoma. Researchers surmise that many months of very little sun exposure
followed by short periods of over-exposure and sunburn may be responsible.
In other words, fair-skinned people who had severe or frequent sunburns
as children and who continue to spend significant periods of time outdoors,
without sun protection, are most at risk of experiencing skin cancer.
Because the average person incurs between 50 and 80 percent of all sun
exposure prior to the age of eighteen, the childhood years have a major
influence on the probability of developing skin cancer later in life.
What can I do to minimize the risk of skin cancer?
- If you have a family history of skin cancer, avoid the sun as much as
possible and wear a sun block every day. Keep a close watch on moles and
skin lesions and have them checked regularly by a physician.
- Avoid tanning salons.
- Stay out of the sun as much as possible between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00
p.m.
- When outdoors, wear light-colored tightly woven clothing, a hat and
sunglasses that block ultra-violet rays.
- Always wear a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or
higher, even on cloudy days and re-apply it every 3 hours.
- Protect your lips with a lip balm with an SPF of 15.
- Eat a diet low in fat and high in antioxidants.
- Invest in clothing which carries a SPF rating of 30 if you are going
to be in the sun for long periods of time (gardening, golfing, fishing,
boating, hiking, skiing etc).
What happens if I do develop skin cancer?
Fortunately skin cancer is quite curable when treated early. More than 90
percent of skin cancers are completely cured. Prescription medication
containing Retin-A may be able to reverse precancerous sun damage.
Medical treatment for skin cancer often involves surgery. An excisional
biopsy (removal of the growth for analysis) cures skin cancer in its early
stages in 95 percent of cases. Other treatments include:
- The use of liquid nitrogen which freezes and kills diseased tissue
- Electrosurgery
- Laser surgery
- Radiation therapy
Your physician or doctor will advise you of the method most appropriate
given your particular situation.
If you have any more questions about what skin cancer
looks like, please ask your doctor for a professional opinion.
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