Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is an illness that affects thousands of people throughout the world every year.It is among the most common type of cancers and if not treated early may become malignant.The malignant (cancer) cells may form in the tissues of the skin, giving the potential to cause loss of life.Skin Cancer develops when genes in skin cells are damaged by Ultra Violet (UV) radiation, so an excellent preventative measure would be to use a skin serum that resets the skin's genes and minimises skin damage which may lead to Skin Cancer.

This cancer affects both men and women and can occur anywhere on the body, but it is most common in skin that is primarily exposed to the sun.This includes the scalp, face, lips, ears, neck, chest, arms, hands and legs.However, a more encouraging fact is that Skin cancer is almost 100% preventable and is very treatable if detected early.

How Skin Cancer Develops

This type of cancer is related to lifetime exposure to Ultra Violet (UV) radiation. However it is not caused by just a single burn or tan; this type of cancer develops from the accumulation of skin damage over many years of sun exposure. In fact, over exposure to the sun's UV radiation is one of the leading causes of skin cancer.It is the skin's epidermis which is mainly affected because the cancer causes the skin cells to grow abnormally and produce changes in the appearance of the skin.In fact, skin cancers may cause the affected area to have many different appearances.And because the epidermis is the outermost layer of skin, the possible appearance of tumours resulting from skin cancer is usually easily visible.The epidermis is made up of 3 kinds of cells:

Squamous cells: These are thin, flat cells that form the top layer of the epidermis.

Basal cells: These are small, round cells in the base of the outer layer of skin.

Melanocyte cells: These cells are responsible for skin pigmentation; so dark skinned people have more melanocyte cells in their skin than fairer skinned people.

Skin cancer tends to be categorised into 2 main groups:

i) Non Melanoma: this includes Basal-cell cancer and Sqamous-cell cancer. This is Skin cancer that forms in the basal cells or squamous cells and may be referred to as a carcinoma.

ii) Melanoma. Skin cancer that forms from melanocyte cells is called melanoma.

Your Physician or Skin Cancer specialist can recognise the type of cancer depending on the symptoms which can present.Symptoms of skin cancer may include:

i) Sores or changes in the skin that do not heal.

ii) Skin ulcers.

iii)Changes in existing moles.

However, there may be no common symptoms to suggest a person may have the disease. Unfortunately, Skin cancer, if left undiagnosed and untreated can spread into the bloodstream and lymph nodes.

Treatment

Treatment of skin cancer is vitally important and the earlier that treatment takes place, the better.In fact, , early detection, and treatment of skin cancer may be crucial for survival. Methods for treating skin cancer may include:

i)Radiation Therapy or Radiotherapy. This treatment involves using high doses of radiation to kill cancer cells. However, unlike cancer cells, most normal cells recover from radiation dosage.

ii)Electrodessication: This procedure involves destroying cancer cells by heat. Electrodessication may also involve curettage, or cutting, to remove the cancer tissue. Electrodissication is used to treat basal cell and squamous cell cancers.

iii) Cryosurgery: This procedure involves using liquid Nitrogen to freeze and destroy cancerous skin tissue.

iv) Tumour vaccines

v) Chemotherapy

Prevention

Prevention is always better than cure, and in the case of Skin Cancer, prevention depends on limiting exposure to UV Radiation.

Other Skin Cancer prevantative practices might include:

i)Using Sunscreen with a sun-protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more.

ii) Wearing protective clothing in strong sunlight.

iii)Avoiding excessive sun exposure during midday hours.

Reduce the risk of Skin Cancer at the Genetic Level

Skin Cancer develops when genes in skin cells are damaged by UV radiation.So a good preventative measure would be to reduce those susceptible skin genes to the possibility of UV attack.